Police were still trying to determine Saturday what allegedly caused a man with no criminal record to shoot his wife, a rising star in Atlanta’s legal community, and another man before turning the gun on himself.
Fulton County Assistant District Attorney April McConnell, 31, remained in critical condition Saturday at Grady Memorial Hospital after undergoing two surgeries overnight. She is expected to survive, authorities said, though her injuries are serious.
McConnell, whose father, Kevin Ross, is a well-known political operative and attorney, was inside her blue Honda with Levon Hailey, 39, when they allegedly were shot by her husband, Tranard McConnell, Friday morning, Atlanta police said. Hailey was shot once in the jaw but his injuries are not life-threatening.
Hailey, whose identity was first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, lives in Lithonia, according to public records, but has a brother who resides at the Fairway Circle address in southwest Atlanta where Friday’s shooting occurred.
Police aren’t saying how Levon Hailey knew April McConnell, who’s assisting in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial.
Investigators believe Tranard McConnell, 32, a human resources executive, ambushed the pair, firing multiple shots into her vehicle before driving eight miles to a College Park cemetery, where he shot himself once in the head.
Four days earlier, the McConnells appeared before a Fayette County judge to sign a marital settlement agreement, typically a precursor to divorce. The agreement alleged no marital infidelity and stated they wished to remain friends and “provide (the) other with emotional support and encouragement.”
“You two have been the beat of the heart of true love for over a decade now,” one friend commented under engagement photographs, taken a few months before their September 2011 wedding, that were posted online.
Tranard McConnell graduated from Albany State University and worked for Morehouse College before becoming the human resources manager at PVH, a global clothing company. He was involved in civic and charitable associations in the Atlanta area.
Police said they have recovered a gun they believe McConnell may have used in the shootings. Divers pulled the weapon from a shallow pond Friday night at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens, the cemetery where McConnell’s body had been found earlier in the day.
“This is an open investigation being worked by our homicide unit,” Atlanta police Sgt. Gregory Lyon said Saturday.
Additional details should be forthcoming when the incident report is made available, likely by Monday, police said.
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