1; Atlanta, GA — 13

lornajarrettblanchard July 27, 1999

— 13 Blanchard note: I show thirteen, rather than twelve homicides to note there were 13 deaths.

— 13 CNN. “Mourners remember gunman’s wife as soccer mom, Scout Leader, 8-1-1999.

— 12 Blanco. “Mark Orrin Barton.” Murderpedia. Accessed 12-6-2015 (includes victim names).

— 12 Duwe, Grant. Mass Murder in the United States: A History. McFarland, 2007, p. 28.

— 12 Syracuse Herald-Journal, NY. “12 Killed in Massacre.” 7-30-1999, p. 1.

Narrative Information

July 30, Syracuse Herald-Journal: “Police say stock trader opens fire in Georgia brokerage offices, turns gun on self. Bludgeoned bodies of suspect’s wife and two children found in aftermath….12 other people injured in Ga. Shooting spree. Notes indicated Barton wanted to kill 3 more people.

“Atlanta (Associated Press) – Authorities are piecing together what they know about Mark O. Barton, the 44-year-old father, investor and former murder suspect who walked into two Atlanta brokerages and killed nine people.

“Some questions may never be answered: Barton sped away after the shooting rampage, driving to a suburb where he killed himself Thursday evening as police closed in. Authorities later said he had killed his wife and two children before committing one of the worst work-place massacres in the nation’s history.

“Twelve people were injured, some by bullets and others by their frantic attempts to avoid the killer. Six remained in critical condition today.

“Speculation on a motive has centered on Barton’s work as a day trader, investors who dabble in risky, moment-by-moment changes in the stock market, which dropped sharply Thursday. But Barton’s family was slain earlier this week and company officials said he hadn’t traded since April at the firm where five of his victims died….

“Clues may be found in notes left with the bodies of his family. Police have not disclosed their contents, except to say that they had found a list indicating Barton had intended to kill at least three more people.

“The shooting rampage was the third in the Atlanta area in little more than two months. It was the latest in a grisly wave of mass slayings at schools and workplaces, and President Clinton today expressed sadness at the bloodshed.

“Barton, dark-haired and 6-foot-4, was wearing khaki shorts when he walked into the Momentum Securities brokerage at the Two Securities Centre building in the trendy Buckhead section of Atlanta about 3 p.m. Thursday. Four people were dead within minutes….

“Barton then walked across a busy six-lane road and into the All-Tech Investment Group, a day trading firm in the Piedmont Center building where he had been a client. Five died there. Barton, who was carrying a pistol in each hand, at one point reportedly said: ‘I hope this doesn’t upset your trading day.’

“Barton came into the office ‘and after speaking with out branch manager, suddenly stood up and for no reason opened fire on the manager and his secretary,’ Jai Ramoutar, director of All Tech, said in a statement released from the company’s headquarters in Montvale, N.J. “This man then went into our main trading room and began indiscriminately shooting the customers.

“For hours, the mayor and police did not know where Barton was….Barton eventually showed up at Town Center Mall in Atlanta’s northwest suburbs, where in approached a woman in the parking lot…she was able to run away and contact security….Police were alerted and began pursuing Barton up Interstate 75. The rampage ended when Barton shot himself as police cornered him at a service station in Acworth, 30 miles northwest of Atlanta and roughly five miles from the mall.

“Barton’s first wife – the mother of the children who were slain this week – and mother-in-law were bludgeoned to death in 1993 in Cedar Bluff, Ala. No arrests were made. ‘He was the No. 1 suspect all the way through and still was,’ said Richard Igou, the district attorney at the time of the killings.

“Barton worked as a chemist before he began trading stocks…

“‘He had swings up and down,’ said the mayor. ‘He apparently was concerned about losses, at least expressed that.’” (Syracuse Herald-Journal, NY. “12 Killed in Massacre.” 7-30-1999, p. 1)

July 31, NYT: “Following are excerpts from a letter and the texts of three notes apparently written by Mark O. Barton and left in the Barton home, as read by Chief Jimmy Mercer of the Henry County police and recorded by The New York Times. Mr. Mercer said that the letter was dated July 29, 6:38 A.M., and that he was omitting three telephone numbers of people mentioned at the end of the letter.

“The Letter

“Leigh Ann is in the master bedroom closet under a blanket. I killed her on Tuesday night. I killed Matthew and Mychelle Wednesday night. There may be similarities between these deaths and the death of my first wife, Debra Spivey. However, I deny killing her and her mother. There is no reason for me to lie now. It just seemed like a quiet way to kill and a relatively painless way to die. There was little pain. All of them were dead in less than five minutes. I hit them with the hammer in their sleep and then put them face-down in the bathtub to make sure they did not wake up in pain, to make sure they were dead.

I’m so sorry. I wish I didn’t. Words cannot tell the agony. Why did I? I have been dying since October. Wake up at night so afraid, so terrified that I couldn’t be that afraid while awake. It has taken its toll. I have come to hate this life and this system of things. I have come to have no hope. I killed the children to exchange them for five minutes of pain or a lifetime of pain. I forced myself to do it to keep them from suffering so much later. No mother, no father, no relatives. The fears of the father are transferred to the son. It was from my father to me and from me to my son. He already had it. And now to be left alone. I had to take him with me.

“I killed Leigh Ann because she was one of the main reasons for my demise. . . . I know that Jehovah will take care of all of them in the next life. I’m sure the details don’t matter. There is no excuse, no good reason I am sure no one will understand. If they could I wouldn’t want them to. I just write these things to say why. Please know that I love Leigh Ann, Matthew and Mychelle with all my heart. If Jehovah’s willing I would like to see them all again in the resurrection to have a second chance. I don’t plan to live very much longer, just long enough to kill as many of the people that greedily sought my destruction.

“The Notes

“I give you my wife Leigh Ann Vanderver Barton, my honey, my precious love. Please take care of her. I will love her forever.

“I give you Matthew David Barton, my son, my buddy, my life. Please take care of him.

“I give you Mychelle Elizabeth Barton, my daughter, my sweetheart, my life. Please take care of her.” (New York Times. “Shootings in Atlanta: The Notes; ‘There Is No Reason for Me to Lie Now…’” 7-31-1999.)

Aug 1, CNN: “….Mark Barton, 44, killed his wife with a hammer Tuesday night in her suburban apartment south of Atlanta. On Wednesday, he bludgeoned to death his two children from a previous marriage. He left notes confessing his actions. He fatally shot nine people and wounded 13 others the following day in two brokerage firms in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead district. Hours later he killed himself when cornered by police, bringing the death toll to 13. The string of murders is the state’s worst mass killing this century. Nine of the wounded remained hospitalized Sunday, three in critical condition….” (CNN. “Mourners remember gunman’s wife as soccer mom, Scout Leader, 8-1-1999.)

Sources

Blanco, Juan Ignacio. “Mark Orrin Barton.” Murderpedia. Accessed 12-6-2015. Accessed 12-6-2015 at: http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/barton-mark.htm

CNN. “Mourners remember gunman’s wife as soccer mom, Scout Leader, 8-1-1999. Accessed 12-6-2015 at: http://edition.cnn.com/US/9908/01/atlanta.shootings.02/

Duwe, Grant. Mass Murder in the United States: A History. McFarland, 2007.

New York Times. “Shootings in Atlanta: The Notes; ‘There Is No Reason for Me to Lie Now…’” 7-31-1999. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/31/us/shootings-in-atlanta-the-notes-there-is-no-reason-for-me-to-lie-now.html

Syracuse Herald-Journal, NY. “12 Killed in Massacre,” 7-30-1999, p. 1. Accessed 2-28-2013: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=29520196&sterm=murder+barton