April and Tranard McConnell, married in 2011, seemed a natural fit — ambitious young professionals with impressive resumes and promising futures.
But their relationship came to violent, unexpected end Friday. Police say Tranard McConnell seriously wounded his 31-year-old wife, a Fulton County assistant district attorney, and an unidentified man in her car outside a southwest Atlanta duplex. He then drove eight miles to Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens, where he fatally shot himself on the edge of a pond. His body was found submerged in four feet of water, said Atlanta Police Capt. Paul Guerrucci.
Just five days earlier, on Monday, April McConnell, who’s aiding in the prosecution of teachers and principals involved in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal, and Tranard McConnell, a human resources manager, appeared before a Fayette County judge to sign a marital settlement agreement in anticipation of divorce. The agreement was free of the rancor that many times comes with the dissolution of a marriage.
According to the settlement, neither was to blame for the end of the marriage and “each party has greatly contributed to the other party’s growth during the marriage.” Each expressed a desire to remain friends and “provide (the) other with emotional support and encouragement.” The McConnells had no outstanding joint debts and no children on the way, the settlement states.
Police say they don’t know what brought April McConnell, whose father is a well-known Atlanta political operative and attorney, to the residence on Fairway Circle on Friday. But her 32-year-old husband, the only suspect in the shooting, was waiting with a gun. He fired multiple bullets into the car where his wife and the man were sitting, Guerrucci said.
April McConnell was shot three times and the passenger once. Both were listed in serious condition Friday evening at Grady Memorial Hospital. Before Tranard McConnell's body was located, police had obtained warrants for his arrest, based on eyewitness descriptions, Guerrucci said.
McConnell, a graduate of Emory University Law School, is a rising star in Atlanta’s legal community. One of her professors, Decatur attorney Bob Rubin, described her as a “delightful student, very personable.”
“She was an A student, very bright,” he said. “She stood out — just a personable, delightful student.”
While in law school, McConnell clerked at Atlanta’s Taylor English law firm, where she went to work right after graduation.
“She’s a superstar, hard-working, intuitive, dynamic,” said founding partner Marc Taylor
McConnell wasn’t at Taylor English for long, following a path taken by many ambitious young attorney by going to work with the district attorney’s office to acquire valuable trial experience.
She immediately went to work on one of the office’s biggest cases in years. McConnell helped draft the 67-count indictment brought against 35 teachers in principals in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal.
“I think it speaks very highly of her that she was brought onto the team working that case,” Rubin said.
Her estranged husband was, according to his LinkedIn page, a human resources manager with PVH, a global clothing company. Tranard McConnell has no criminal record and was active in the community, once hosting a symposium to address youth-related violence after 18-year-old Bobby Tillman was stomped to death outside a party in Douglas County in November 2010.
Family members were unavailable for comment Friday.
April McConnell’s father, Kevin Ross, is a longtime fixture in Atlanta’s politics who has guided some of the Atlanta area’s most prominent Democrats.
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