ATLANTA -- The investor who killed his family and nine people at two brokerage firms vowed in a note to kill "the people that greedily sought my destruction," police said Friday.
Mark O. Barton left the computer-generated note in the living room of his family's apartment in suburban Stockbridge, describing how he killed his wife and two children by hitting them in the head with a hammer Tuesday and Wednesday, said Jimmy Mercer, police chief in Henry County, where Stockbridge is located.The note made no direct reference to Thursday's slayings at the two brokerage firms in Atlanta, except the veiled threat against greedy people.
"I don't plan to live very much longer, just long enough to kill . . . the people that greedily sought my destruction," he wrote.
Barton wrote that he killed his children -- 11-year-old Matthew and 8-year-old Elizabeth Mychelle -- to spare them the pain of living without parents.
Using a hammer "just seemed like a polite way to kill and a relatively painless way to die," he wrote. "There was little pain. All of them were dead in less than five minutes."
Barton also expressed regret for killing his 27-year-old wife, Leigh Ann, "my honey, my precious love."
"I killed Leigh Ann because she was one of the main reasons for my demise as I planned to kill the others. I really wish I hadn't killed her now. She really couldn't help it and I love her so much anyway," he wrote.
Barton, 44, killed himself Thursday evening as police closed in on him in Atlanta's northern suburbs about five hours after the shootings in Atlanta.
Twelve people were injured at the two brokerage firms, some by bullets and others by their frantic attempts to avoid the killer. Seven remained in critical condition Friday.
Six years ago, Barton was a suspect in the bludgeoning deaths of his first wife and her mother, authorities said. But Mercer said Barton's note denied responsibility for those slayings.
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.
The shooting rampage -- the third in the Atlanta area in little more than two months -- and the ensuing manhunt stunned the city of 3.1 million and quickly captured national attention. It was the latest in a grisly wave of mass slayings at schools and workplaces, and President Clinton expressed sadness Friday 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.
"I saw a lot of blood in the hallway," said Chris Carter, 32, who works on the building's third floor. "There was a trail of blood leading from one end of the hallway to the other." It wasn't clear what relationship Barton had with the Momentum firm, if any.
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 our 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."
Nell Jones, 53, a day trader at All-Tech, said she was sitting at her computer when she heard shots.
"I was sitting outside the door when he exited, so I was the first person to look into his eyes," Jones told WSB-TV. "He was someone who was very calm and determined, no feelings. The bullet missed me and then he turned to shoot at other people, so I was able to escape,"
Mayor Bill Campbell said the victims were shot with 9mm and .45-caliber handguns.
For hours, the mayor and police did not know where Barton was, and SWAT teams and helicopters swarmed Buckhead to look for him. Police told workers to stay in their offices and lock the doors; some huddled in their cubicles four hours after the shootings.
Barton eventually showed up at Town Center Mall in Atlanta's northwest suburbs, where he approached a woman in the parking lot, said Cobb County police spokesman Dana Pierce.
"She was able to run away and contact security," he said today. "What his intentions were with her is a still part of the investigation." He wasn't sure if she recognized him from news reports or was afraid because of something he had said or done. She contacted mall security, and around the same time, someone else also spotted Barton's dark green minivan.
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.
"He was pulled over, and then killed himself," Campbell said.
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, Campbell said.
"He had swings up and down," said the mayor. "He apparently was concerned about losses, at least expressed that."