January
19, 2000
The Darkest Day(trader).
Subtitled;
Satan: Barton, meet Adolph,
Adolph, Barton.
Hitler: How's it hanging, Mark?
I've hesitated to write about this for awhile. All
of my entries thus far have been
superficial meandering through my
everyday life, barring the November 28th
entry. While that is surely entertaining
for me and beneficial on some level, I've
yet to write about that affected my
psyche, my dreams, my feeling of
invincibility that comes with youth, my
shaky notion that I'm somehow protected
while everyone else is subject to
whatever life throws at them.
I know now that I'm not. I've known that
since the day I first got to see a locked
and loaded M-16 up close and personal.
I've gone back and forth, trying to
decide if I should present this as a
timeline, or provide the CNN story, or
both. Because you're reading life through
my eyes, that's the way you'll see July
29, 1999. Side note to one person in
particular out there that was there with
me, that reads here...I'm trying
desperately not to be over dramatic, this
is just the way I remember it, I've
wondered how you do.
3:15 p.m.
Sitting at my desk, finishing up the last
thing that had kept me from leaving 15
minutes early like I had planned on, when
my phone rang. I knew it was my father
because it had the telltale static of a
semi barreling down the highway on a
cellphone, I said hello while slipping my
purse over my shoulder to leave.
Him: "That's not your building, is
it?"
Me: "What do you mean, Daddy?
Him: "There's people getting shot on
Piedmont, I just heard it on the
radio."
Me: "I'll call you right back."
I hung up the phone and ran to the
window. I felt all the blood sink out of
my face and onto the multi-colored
industrial carpet that covers our floor.
Then I started running through the
office, yelling like a madwoman. I almost
look back on this with humor now.
"Get away from the windows!"
Halfway through the office I ran into,
literally, IT Man, who was
apparently just told by the security of
our building that this was happening. He
had the phone glued to his ear. He just
looked at me and kept going saying only;
"I know, yes people are shot, stay
away from the windows!"
Then I proceeded to go through the office
and try to tell everyone what was going
on.
We have no idea who, what, or where the
shooter even is.
4:30 p.m.
It took half an hour to group everyone
into the conference room, told to stay
there by the police (by phone.) We've all
had to call our families, CNN having
spread the news like wildfire. I called
my mother up north, she was frantic. I
called my aunt because my cousin had
called from Africa, having seen CNN
there. Everyone and their mother knew
what was going on. Everyone but us.
We didn't even have a television, though
we had a radio. One little fucking radio.
One radio that broadcasted anything and
everything Joe Average had to speculate
on. Then they said he was on the roof.
I hadn't known that I still had blood in
my veins, until they said that, because
that's when the rest of it sank out of my
body.
I remembered Adam was in the parking lot
waiting on me.
I had yet to feel a panic concerning my
own well being. But the fact that my then
fiancée was downstairs in the path of
this person with too much ammo and too
little sanity. I lost my grip.
Instead of breaking down into tears and
screaming my fool head off before running
out of the office to try and protect my
Adam, I shut down. There was groups of
people that had gone into the breakroom
and were actually laughing and having
fun. I was beyond furious. How dare they
behave in such a manner when the other
half of my being was in this monster's
path? I've let that go now, though in
retrospect, there's only one interaction
that still makes me see red.
We still didn't know where the shooter
was, but by now we knew that he had
already killed his wife and stuffed her
in a closet, then killed his two children
as well. We also knew his name, Mark
Barton. Funny, that doesn't sound
particularly evil, does it? Mark Barton
should be your milkman, your neighborhood
butcher, a dogwalker, a house sitter, a
grocery cashier, a gas pumper, a man who
tips his hat as you walk down the
sidewalk.
5:30 p.m.
Sitting across from a woman that I barely
know, having latched onto Holly Hobby
(named so because of her habit of wearing
40's dresses that remind me of the Holly
Hobby doll) because she was the only
person that seemed to be actually
concerned with what was going on. We lay
our heads on the conference table and
listened. They confirmed he wasn't on the
roof, and I felt my body slowly begin to
return to normal pace. Then I got angry,
angry because the safest place we have to
hide is separated from the elevator by a
pane of glass. Angry because people were
giggling around the corner. Angry because
I was in a non smoking building. Angry
because I wanted Adam so bad I ached.
Angry because the radio was still giving
us bullshit information and repeating
lies over and over. Then the chorus of
kindergarten started, grown women whining
like 5 year olds...
"But I have to pee
nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww."
I stared incredulously at Sister Mary,
who I had believed to be an adult woman,
who had transformed into a brat with snot
running out of her nose and yanking on
the sleeve of IT Man who was still
running the show. I almost said
something, but I wouldn't have been able
to stop.
IT Man: We're talking about real guns
here, real bullets.
Sister Mary: I'm talking about a real
bladder here.
I saw myself in slow motion vaulting over
the table and wrapping my slender fingers
around this woman's neck and shaking
until I heard a satisfying crunching and
a rattle escape her throat, assuring that
she wouldn't fill the room with her high
pitched whine again anytime soon. I felt
my hands on her skin, I heard her
esophagus tear. Instead I let IT Man
handle it.
He let them go to the bathroom, outside
of the office
I should've handled it instead.
6:30 p.m.
I watch people peek through the glass
pane at the floor outside of our office,
watching for anything, but hoping for
police. I wonder to myself how idiotic
they are. I had just watched Saving
Private Ryan the night before, so I had
bloody vision of sugarplums dancing in my
head. While I watch Perpetual Shaker
stick his nose through the curtain, I saw
with my mind's eye as his head exploded
in a mist of red. I saw the people in
front of the glass dropping like rag
dolls as bullets tore through the
conference room chairs. I couldn't stop.
This is what my mind did. I am not at
fault for that, I had no control over it.
Then we finally see the parade of SWAT
team members starting towards our
building. We were the last building, and
the last floor to be evacuated. I finally
told IT Man to kiss my ass and smoked a
cigarette in the back of the office while
watching them work their way towards us.
7:00 p.m.
We're lead out of the conference room by
SWAT team members with huge M-16's loaded
and ready for anyone to start something.
They were lined up like some bizarre
version of Red Rover, blocking all doors
and exits while we go down the steps. I
thank each and every one of them. Full
armor, full battle face, full on taking
no shit from anyone. I almost felt sorry
for Mark Barton if they were the ones to
catch him.
7:10 p.m.
I hug Holly Hobby once we are out of the
building and refuse ride after ride,
hoping beyond hope that my Adam is still
in the preordained pick up spot. I don't
see him. I spot to police officers
against a parking lot wall, and yell to
them.
"Have you seen a Mazda?"
"You looking for your boyfriend,
honey?"
"Yes, sir."
They pointed and I saw him. Until that
moment, I still wasn't safe. Until I
kissed him with the taste of my own
sobbing deep in the back of my throat,
then I was safe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's still more I have to say, like
how I couldn't close my eyes, or how
every noise filled me with terror. I had
to ask Adam to walk me into the office
every morning for two weeks because when
I arrive it's still dark outside. I
couldn't stand too near the building when
I was outside. I purposefully chose to
smoke far away, even though it seriously
inconvenienced me. It's been six months
now. All of those symptoms have vanished.
Except one.
I have unanswered questions that continue
to run through my mind.
Where did he park? Have I parked in the
same place, unaware of what I was doing?
Obviously someone has had to.
LL Bean said that he saw Barton in the
bushes that morning. Did I have a
cigarette near him that am, unknowingly
placing myself in his radius of madness?
Did he see me? Did he see me? Did his
eyes lie on me for even a moment? It
terrifies me, although I am more than
aware that he can't ever hurt anyone
anymore, it continues to terrify me.
Mark Barton stole my sense of security,
as well as those innocent people's lives.
I no longer feel like I can live to live.
Though now it's up to me to change that.
If you are interested, below is the best
article I could find still on the web, to
fill in the blanks, and show what was
happening while I was behind the glass
pane.
(CNN) --
The man who allegedly shot to death nine
people at two Atlanta brokerage houses
lost about $105,000 in his last month of
day trading. On the same day that he
suffered his last trading losses, Mark
Barton apparently bludgeoned his wife to
death.
A source
familiar with Barton's trading activities
said Barton lost money that day. Asked if
it was a considerable sum, the source
said, "To you and me maybe... but it
wasn't an unusual day in regard to his
profits or losses."
Barton,
44, first opened an account with Momentum
Securities Inc.'s branch office in
Atlanta on May 13, with an initial
transaction of $100,000. He indicated his
net worth was $750,000 at the time,
records show, including $250,000 in
available cash.
Barton's
annual income earned as a chemist was
listed as $85,000.
On Tuesday,
Barton killed his wife, Leigh Ann, 27,
investigators said. On Wednesday, he
killed his two children -- 11-year-old
Matthew and 7-year-old Mychelle.
Then, on
Thursday, Barton carried out Atlanta's
worst mass murder when he opened fire at
two brokerage firms, Momentum Securities
and All-Tech Investment Group. He left a
note suggesting a deeper anguish than
financial loss, but also vowing to
"kill ... people that greedily
sought my destruction."
A letter
from Momentum Securities President James
Lee to Securities and Exchange Commission
Chairman Arthur Levitt states: "From
our very preliminary review of our
records, it appears that he traded at our
Atlanta office on a total of 15 days in
the period June 9, 1999, through July 27,
1999. His trading resulted in an
approximate $105,000 loss."
Authorities
on Friday released the contents of the
one-page note in which Barton also
expresses love for his family and remorse
for the three killings. Barton says in
the note that he killed his wife because
she "was one of the main reasons for
my demise." The two were reportedly
going through a bitter divorce.
Authorities
released the 911 tapes of people
reporting the shooting to police.
"There
is a man bleeding in my office,"
Melinda Batch told the emergency operator
at 2:56 p.m. EDT. She also described the
shooter as a white man wearing a pink
shirt.
Atlanta
Police responded within four minutes of
the initial 911 call and had six units at
the scene by the time a second 911 call
was placed at 3:07 p.m.
While
police investigated the carnage in the
first building, Barton walked calmly past
a guard and killed five more people in
another building.
Then, as
nearly every police officer in Atlanta
was looking for him, Barton walked to his
minivan and drove out of town.
'You
should kill me if you can'
The note
Henry County police found in Barton's
home was written on his stationery and
dated 6:38 a.m. Thursday. The note also
urges police to kill him if they can.
Except
possibly for the vague reference to
greedy people, the note makes no direct
reference to Thursday's shootings, a
rampage that ended hours later when
Barton took his own life, increasing the
death toll to 13.
In
addition to the nine deaths at the two
Atlanta office buildings, another 13
people were wounded, police said. Eleven
of them, including four people in
critical condition, were still under
hospital care on Friday.
'I
hit them with a hammer'
"There
was little pain," Barton wrote,
describing how he bludgeoned Leigh Ann,
his second wife, and his two children
from his first marriage.
"All
of them were dead in less than five
minutes. I hit them with a hammer in
their sleep and then put them face down
in the bathtub to make sure they did not
wake up in pain," Barton wrote.
"I
killed the children to exchange them for
five minutes of pain for a lifetime of
pain. I forced myself to do it to keep
them from suffering so much later,"
he wrote. " No mother, no father, no
relatives."
Barton's
note, read aloud to reporters by Henry
County Police Chief Jimmy Mercer,
was found in the living room of his
family's apartment in suburban
Stockbridge, south of Atlanta.
While
leaving questions about his motive
unanswered, Barton's words reveal how
tortured he felt at the time of the
killings. "Words cannot tell the
agony," the note says.
'I
have come to hate this life'
I have been
dying since October," Barton wrote.
He said he was "so terrified that I
couldn't be that afraid while awake. It
has taken its toll. I have come to hate
this life in this system of things. I
have come to have no hope."
He
expressed his love for his wife and
children as well, in shorter, handwritten
messages found near their bodies that
appear to ask God to take care of them.
"I
don't plan to live very much longer, just
long enough to kill ... the people that
greedily sought my destruction," he
wrote.
Barton's
note listed the names of three people,
but Mercer said they were apparently
named as next of kin, not as further
targets for retribution.
One of
the names is Bill Spivey, the father of
Barton's first wife.
Barton is
suspected of killing Debra Spivey Barton,
36, and her mother, Eloise Spivey, 59, in
Alabama six years ago.
No charges
were ever brought against Barton, and in
the note found by Georgia authorities, he
denied responsibility for the Alabama
deaths.
The other
names in the note were Gladys Barton, who
is Mark Barton's widowed mother, and Joe
Fowler, whose connection to Mark Barton
was not immediately clear.
Shooter
fired into barricaded office
Within
minutes after the shooting spree, Batch
gave 911 dispatchers the location of the
building -- 3500 Piedmont Road, Suite 310
-- and said a victim stumbled into the
office suite after being shot in his left
upper arm. The dispatcher asked her to
repeat the address two times.
"Quick!
We've got an emergency!" another
woman implored a 911 operator.
"There's a lady that's down!"
When the
woman screamed for an ambulance, the
operator told her calmly, "Ma'am,
we've got everybody en route."
face="Times New Roman">Glenn
Miller, who was in Momentum Securities
when the shooting broke out, said he also
called 911, but was put on hold the first
time and had to call again.
It took
at least 45 minutes for medical emergency
crews to arrive at the office, he said.
Miller and a
friend, Joe Skipper, had tipped over a
desk and barricaded themselves in a back
office when shots rang out.
The
gunman tried to force the door open and
then fired two shots through the door,
one of which missed Skipper by 3 inches,
Miller said.
After
calling police, Miller and Skipper threw
a computer terminal through the
third-floor office window to create a
potential escape route that police later
used as a way to get into the building.
Skipper
said about five minutes before the
shooting he ran into Barton in the break
room. "He had a smile on his face,
looked me in the eyes and asked me how I
was doing," Skipper said.
"I
told him, 'Great.'"
Final
moments before suspect's suicide
Barton
killed himself in his van Thursday night
in the northern suburb of Acworth as two
police officers closed in on him about
five hours after the Atlanta shootings.
Cobb
County Police Officer Huel Clements had
spotted Barton's van, following at a
distance while identifying the suspect,
before Barton turned into a BP gas
station.
"He
circled around slowly, through the
parking lot, around the back, and when he
came around adjacent to the car wash, he
stopped," said Clements.
By that
time, Cpl. Curtis Endicott of the Acworth
Police Department arrived to provide
assistance. He pulled closer to block the
suspect's car, fearing Barton would make
a run for it.
As he got
out of his vehicle, Endicott said he saw
Barton move, saw a flash and heard a
muffled shot.
4
guns found in car
Police
found four handguns and more than 200
rounds of ammunition in Barton's vehicle.
Senior law
enforcement officials tell CNN that the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
(ATF) has now traced the weapons.
According
to sources, in addition to the GLOCK 9 mm
and Colt .45 handguns police previously
described, authorities also found a
.22-caliber H&R revolver and a
.25-caliber Raven pistol.
Sources
say Barton purchased the revolver from a
South Carolina pawnshop in 1976. Another
individual bought the Raven pistol from a
pawnshop in Georgia in 1992.
The Colt
and GLOCK are believed to be the guns
Barton used at the office buildings.
"We
believe that Mr. Barton actually shot
himself with the .45," Atlanta
Police Chief Beverly Harvard said.
Motive?
Atlanta
Mayor Bill Campbell, who had earlier said
the chemical salesman-turned-day trader
was upset about his stock market losses,
told CNN Friday it may be impossible to
learn the full story behind the carnage.
"Quite honestly, I don't know if
we'll ever know what the true motives of
Mr. Barton were," Campbell said.
Linda
Lerner, the attorney for All-Tech
Investment Group, said there was nothing
unusual about his trading activities and
that he was "going through a
difficult divorce."
"He
was a customer until a couple of months
ago, and then he went to another firm to
trade," she said in Montvale, New
Jersey, where All-Tech is headquartered.
"We're going through his account now
to determine what his trading gains and
losses were."
Lerner
said, "I don't know that you can
necessarily tie his trading to these
killings."
Lee, the
president of Momentum Securities -- where
the shooting spree began -- said Friday
"the last 24 hours have been
hell" and he expressed his
condolences to "those who are
hurting."
"We're
devastated by this. We don't know why it
happened, we'll probably never
know," he said at a news conference.
"We're
grieving for our employees, our
customers, their families and their loved
ones," Lee said.
"Mark
Barton met our financial requirements as
a customer," said Lee. "The
documents he signed indicated that he
understood the potential risks and
rewards of day trading. He was an
experienced trader."
'An
eerie feeling'
On Friday
morning, workers returned to the two
buildings, but the offices where the nine
deaths occurred remained closed as police
investigated the crime scene.
Someone
left a bouquet of spring flowers -- red
carnations, yellow chrysanthemums and
white daisies -- outside each building
with a card that said, "I'm so
sorry. God bless you."
"Everyone
is still shaken," said Millicent
Pilate as she returned to work in the
complex.
Going back
to the building was an "eerie
feeling," said Sheldon Casey.
Even
more info for the person with the time to
kill.
http://cnn.com/US/9907/29/atlanta.shooting.04/index.html
http://cnn.com/US/9908/04/barton.trades/index.html
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