Young Nichols 'a very nice kid,' 'jokester,' friends say
 |  Tracy Brewer, a friend of Nichols, said he "laughed a lot, smiled a lot, liked to play, liked to joke." |
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 Ashley Smith details her experience as a hostage.
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 A woman's 911 call led to Nichols' capture.
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BALTIMORE, Maryland (CNN) -- Brian Nichols, accused of killing four people during an escape from an Atlanta, Georgia, courthouse, was an intelligent youth with a playful, joking personality, said childhood friends.
Nichols, 33, was being tried a second time on rape charges Friday when police said he overpowered a guard and shot to death a judge, a deputy sheriff, a court reporter -- and later -- a federal agent.
Jane Brewer, a neighbor during Nichols' childhood in Baltimore, said it's difficult to view the boy she knew as a youth as the man who police say killed four people.
"He was just a very nice kid from what I could see," Brewer said. "And I really think that whatever the problem was, it lies somewhere way beyond what we can see."
In the 1980s Nichols attended Catholic school -- Baltimore's Cardinal Gibbons High School -- where he played basketball and football.
Nichols "laughed a lot, smiled a lot, liked to play, liked to joke," said Tracy Brewer, a friend. "I never saw any behavior in him that would send off a warning signal that this was to come. Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
Pastor Charles Franklin expressed disbelief that the intelligent "jokester" he knew as a boy was the same Nichols now in custody. "How senseless this is," Franklin said. "How tragic it is. How none of us would ever have seen this happening to someone that we know and that is so lovable."
In 1989, Nichols left Baltimore to study at Kutztown University -- in Pennsylvania, about 90 miles from Philadelphia.
Nick Pergine, who played football with Nichols at Kutztown University, told The Associated Press that Nichols' physical stature and martial arts skills earned him a reputation.
"He was a bad dude," Pergine told the AP. "You didn't mess with him."
Nichols spent three semesters at Kutztown before dropping out. After that, Nichols attended Lutheran-supported Newberry College, about 40 miles from Columbia, South Carolina, where he also played football.
Sometime during his college years, Nichols was convicted for disorderly conduct, said his attorney Barry Hazen, who would later represent Nichols in his rape case.
Years later, before his arrest last summer, Nichols was working in Atlanta as a computer technician for UPS, Hazen said. About 6 feet tall, around 210 pounds, Nichols continued to compete with friends on the basketball court.
"He's very analytical, very logical," Hazen said. "He's also very big and athletic. He's an avid basketball player."
"By all accounts, he was a likeable guy."
Recently, Nichols' parents have been living in Tanzania, where his mother, a former agent for the Internal Revenue Service, has been helping to create a tax system. The couple is expected to return to the United States by the end of the month.
Nichols' father is retired from the restaurant business, Hazen said.
In August of 2004, Nichols' life became more complicated. A long-term girlfriend accused Nichols of attacking her. But Hazen said Nichols had denied the accusation, and that "they were reconciling and they had consensual sex."
"He was involved with a woman for a number of years, a long-term relationship, about eight years," Hazen said. "And that relationship began to deteriorate, and then he began to see another woman. That woman became pregnant and that, of course, caused tremendous stress within the relationship with his original girlfriend."
"He wanted to remain with her," said Hazen. "She did not want to be with him, she says, and that gave rise to her claim that he attacked her back in August."
A hung jury in that trial led to a retrial, which was ongoing when Nichols escaped the courthouse on Friday.
"If you talk with him and spend time with him, you get the impression that he's very laid back, very easygoing," Hazen said. "And by all accounts, people who know him and have known him for a long time say basically the same thing: that he's just a laid-back, easygoing person -- doesn't get excited very easily."
CNN's Kathleen Koch contributed to this report.
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
