Hurt Deputy Leaves Rehab

The Fulton County sheriff's deputy who was injured when a man took her gun and went on a deadly shooting rampage at the courthouse last month left an Atlanta brain injury center Wednesday.

Sheriff's deputy Cynthia Hall leaves rehab after recovering from her injures suffered during the March 11 courthouse attack. Cynthia Hall inside

Deputy Cynthia Hall, wearing sneakers and pink hospital scrubs, walked on her own from the Shepherd Center to a van. She gave her doctor, Gerald Bilsky, a "high-five" and then thanked him as she left the medical center where she has been recovering.

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"We are very proud of her and know that she still has some work to do," Bilsky said. "But she has come a long way."

Hall, 51, sustained a bruise and bleeding on the brain as well as fractures around her right eye during the March 11 shootings. Authorities say Brian Nichols, 33, overpowered her when she was escorting him to his retrial on a rape charge.

Authorities say Nichols took Hall's gun from a lockbox and shot Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and court reporter Julie Brandau to death in the courtroom. They say he also killed a sheriff's deputy outside the courthouse and a federal agent at the home the agent was building in Buckhead before he was arrested 26 hours after the shootings began.

Officials said Hall has little, if any, memory of the incident, a loss that she has struggled with.

Hall's doctor says she may never recover fully enough to resume her former duties as a sheriff's deputy. But he says a full recovery is one of the center's goals.

Her treatment regimen during rehab has included strength training, physical therapy and relearning basic skills.

"She's gotten to the point where she can walk unaided," Bilsky said. "Now we have to see how she does handling herself in grocery stores, restaurants and out in the community as opposed to what we consider a more protected environment."

She will continue her rehabilitation at Shepherd Pathways -- an outpatient therapy clinic in Decatur.

Channel 2 Action News health reporter Diana Davis contributed to this report.