DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 11:07 p.m. April 25, 2009
UGA professor on the loose after deadly shootings
Three slain, including suspect’s wife
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Athens — Hours later, the prime suspect in a triple murder in Athens is still on the loose.
Police burst through the front door and searched the home of a college professor accused of shooting and killing three adults and wounding at least three others Saturday afternoon.
George M. Zinkhan
Police and witnesses say University of Georgia professor George M. Zinkhan III opened fire outside a community theater. Zinkhan, a professor in the Department of Marketing and Distribution, fled the scene.
The three confirmed dead include 47-year-old Marie E. Bruce, Ben Teague, 63, and Thomas Cole Tanner, 40, Clarke County coroner Sonny Wilson said Saturday night. All three were shot multiple times, Wilson said, with Tanner receiving the most wounds.
Authorities issued a nationwide alert for Zinkhan and his 2005 red Jeep Liberty with Georgia license plate AIX1376. Zinkhan is a 57-year-old white male, last seen wearing a polo shirt and blue shorts, according to the UGA Web site.
The dragnet focus is in Athens, 100,000-plus population, but the city 70 miles east of Atlanta is intersected by major highways that could have served as escape routes out of town and out of state.
Talk centered on the shootings in the college town, filled with thousands of extra people for this weekend’s Twilight Criterium bike event.
Throughout the evening, some placed candles and flowers near the site of shootings. A paper tablet let mourners express their feelings in words.
The shooting happened at 12:25 p.m. outside the Athens Community Theater off Prince Avenue near downtown. The theater is the home to the Town and Gown Players group.
Beth Kozinsky, membership director, said the theater company was hosting a homecoming picnic lunch Saturday for current and former members. She and others watched Zinkhan walk over from a parking lot and shoot the first victim at close range.
“We watched it happen,” Kozinsky said. “We were all in shock.”
Saturday afternoon, a still shaken Kozinsky struggled to remember exact details.
“It’s kind of a blur,” she said.
Bruce, an attorney, and Tanner had been serving as officers with the theater company, and Teague had been involved for several years, she said. Tanner was starring in a production at the theater. Teague was married to Fran Teague, a UGA English professor.
Teague moved to Athens in 1977, according to his self-named site. An avid reader, Teague had a backround in physics and worked as a translator, according to his site.
Dana Adams said she lives across the street from Zinkhan and Bruce, and that the two are married with two children, ages 8 and 10. Adams said she saw the couple Friday outside their Bogart home, near the Georgia Square mall.
Atlanta musician Wesley Cook graduated from UGA in 2004 and was shocked to hear his family friend Bruce had been shot.
“She was my mother’s attorney and I went to several of her productions,” he said. “This was an utterly senseless crime that has robbed Athens of people who are part of its rich tapestry of art.”
Bruce worked in the Athens law firm of attorney J. Hue Henry, who represented the late Jan Kemp in her highly publicized lawsuit vs. the university.
Capt. Clarence Holeman of the Athens-Clarke County Police Dept. said investigators interviewed 20 witnesses. He said an argument between the suspect, who was well known to the theater group, and an unidentified man immediately preceded the shootings.
According to Holeman, witnesses told police that Zinkhan left the event and returned a few minutes later with two handguns. He fired both guns, Holeman said, and afterward walked away, got in a car and drove off.
Holeman said three cars are registered to Zinkhan, and police were searching for all three. He warned the public to be on alert.
Zinkhan poses “a high level of threat for anyone who comes into contact with him,” said Holeman.
Adams said after the shootings, Zinkhan apparently took both children to another neighbor’s home.
“He said he had an emergency,” Adams said Saturday evening. Police questioned neighbors on the street.
The two children are now in police custody, Holeman said.
At the recently opened Burger and Cheesesteak Factory on Prince Street, waitress Tanya Ibarra said the restaurant was packed during lunch when the shooting occurred two blocks away. Several customers left out of fear upon learning what had happened. The staff and customers who remained were on edge.
“Every time somebody walked by with a backpack and blue shorts on we got nervous,” Ibarra said.
The restaurant owner, Kaleb Elkims said “I thought about locking the doors.”
The wounded people did not suffer life-threatening injuries, Holeman said. Both were injured by ricochet — one victim in a leg and the other in a foot — according to Holeman. They were taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens.
A man outside the shooting scene said his son was a witness to the slayings.
John Hardy of Conyers said his son, Matt Hardy, was standing next to one of the victims. John Hardy says his son told him that the victim, Tanner, was shot twice — once in the front and the back.
John Hardy said Matt Hardy, who lives in Athens, was a friend of Tanner’s. His son was being questioned by Athens police and released. He declined to comment on what he told investigators.
“At 22 you’re not supposed to watch people die,” said John Hardy.
According to Tanner’s Facebook profile, he has acted in 50 productions, including “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure,” the current play being produced at the theater. All remaining performances of the play have been cancelled, according to the theater company’s Web site.
Gary Moon of Athens had just left classes at nearby Piedmont College when he heard gunshots.
“It was like pow, pow, pow. At first I thought it was just somebody fooling around with a cap gun or something,” Moon said. “Then I saw a lady who was walking her dog. She took off running and screaming down the street.”
Moon called 911 and reported the shooting, then drove up to the scene. Trained in CPR he sought to help. “I was too late. There wasn’t anything I could do.”
The university sent a text alert to students saying that a UGA professor is a suspect in an off-campus shooting in the Prince Avenue area.
UGA Alerts, which began after the Virginia Tech killings in March 2007, are used to let more than 25,000 know quickly when there are possible dangerous situations, said Pete Konenkamp, university spokesman.
There has been no indication that Zinkhan has returned to campus, Konenkamp said.
Zinkhan, who earned a doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1981, came to UGA in spring 1994 from the University of Houston.
UGA President Michael Adams released the following statement:
“The University community is shocked and saddened at this tragic event. Our first thoughts are for safety of the university community and for prompt apprehension of the person responsible. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of all those who have been affected.”
— Staff writers Mike Morris, Kent Miles, Marcus Garner and Jennifer Brett and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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