Three dead in shooting at theater

[itsrobert]

Source: Online Athens Website and CNN TV

Three adults are dead and one injured after a man opened fire at the Athens Community Theatre off Prince Avenue this afternoon.

The shooter is still at large, said Athens-Clarke Assistant Police Chief Alan Brown. Brown identified the shooter as a marketing professor at the University of Georgia.

"There is some indication he may have had multiple weapons," Brown said. He described the shooter as a white man, about 6 foot 3 inches tall and unshaven.

Check back to OnlineAthens.com for more on this developing story.



Read more: http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/042509/bre_432839448.shtml

---

3 people shot and killed in Athens, GA. CNN reports UGA professor being sought by police.


UGA Professor George Zinkhan is a suspect in a shooting off campus.

George Zinkhan is a white male in his mid 50s with a goatee or beard.
Current information is that he was last seen wearing a polo shirt, blue shorts, and a backpack.
He was last thought to be in a red car in the area of Prince Avenue. Use extreme caution if contact is made.

Call 911 if you know his location. Please do not call 911 for information.
Please do not call UGA Police asking questions. Only call to provide information that you may have regarding this matter.

Having a suspect at-large, presents a threatening situation.
You are encouraged to use your best judgment in taking precautions during this time.

[maddezmom]

1. link here: Professor suspected in Saturday afternoon shooting on Prince Avenue

Professor suspected in Saturday afternoon shooting on Prince Avenue
Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: News
PrintEmail Article Tools Page 1 of 1 UGA Alert sent an emergency message around 2 p.m. saying UGA Professor George Zinkhan is a suspect in a Saturday afternoon shooting off campus.

George Zinkhan is a 6'3'' white male in his mid 50s with a goattee or beard. Current information is that he was last seen wearing a polo shirt, blue shorts, and a backpack on Saturday afternoon on Prince Avenue. He was last thought to be in a red car in the area of Prince Avenue. Use extreme caution if contact is made. Call 911 if you know his location. Please do not call 911 for information.

According to Red & Black reports:

Witnesses say three people have been shot and killed. The suspect approached the Town and Gown Players Theater on Grady Avenue and started shooting. He fired his gun multiple times and ran away, said Alan Brown, assistant police chief for Athens-Clarke County Police.
more:http://media.www.redandblack.com/media/storage/paper871/news/2009/04/24/News/Professor.Suspected.In.Saturday.Afternoon.Shooting.On.Prince.Avenue-3726106.shtml

[Solly Mack]

2. Damn

[angstlessk]

3. and they want concealed weapons on campuses??? WTF? n/t

[saigon68]

5. This guy is obviously deranged

Too bad a few people didn't have concealed carry.

They could have lit his sorry ass up.

[angstlessk]

11. and you know this HOW? are you a mentalist...?? n/t

[Lucky Luciano]

13. WHat, you don't think he is deranged? Killing 3 people sounds deranged to me.

[angstlessk]

14. so does killing 5 or 2 or 15...of course it is NOT THE FUCKING GUNS

he would have jumped out of the car and knifed the muthers..while they all sood in a stupor and let him???

[McCamy Taylor]

18. Too bad we hand out guns to everyone as a form of population control....

[pattmarty]

19. AND the rest of the fucking theater also. Concealed carry ain't the answer, bright boy.

[Tim01]

23. You are emotional and not making sense.

If one of the victims had killed the murderer it would have been *better* than the execution of three innocent people. That is what actually did happen without the victims being armed.

Concealed carry people do on occasion go after active shooters. And as far as I know there has NEVER been an innocent shot by stray bullets as is suggested in your very dramatic fantasy.
Remember the church? Dead badguy. The Walmart? Dead badguy. The badguy strangling the cop? Dead badguy. The list goes on and on.

Sorry guns get you all hysterical, but your emotions don't match up with reality.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

28. Please produce evidence

where there is a case where someone carrying a legal concealed fire arm has taken out an active shooter, please.

[Tim01]

38. Here is a video for you.

Woman is working in walmart. Her ex-husband comes in an stabs her 9 times while everybody stands around or freaks out or whatever. Joe average walks up and shoots the bad guy 3 times while he is stabbing the wife. This is a video of the stabbing and shooting. The wife lived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soZT__WQKsM


And here is the story of the former police officer lady who volunteered to carry her gun to church and shot the active shooter who showed up with a shotgun and shitload of ammo.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/10/colorado.shootings/index.html


Another video I can't find right now. Cop has verbal altercation with guy in car and maces guy then walks away. Badguy pulls out a gun and shoots cop about 6 times in the back and then drives over the down officer. Joe Average runs up to the badguys car as he is pulling away and shoots him through the open window killing him. Too late for that officer though, he died.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

66. Okay

You produced one example. The Colorado example doesn't count because that was a security guard hired by the church. Which was debunked as a legal concealed example on Thom Hartmann a couple of weeks ago buy a member of the church who called in and said that security guard worked there every Sunday. Doesn't really count as an average citizen carrying a concealed fire arm. So you have produced one example of this happening out of the millions of crimes that happen every year. I acknowlege the one example but those numbers are pretty bad if you think about it. It just proves to me that it doesnt ever happen.

[pipoman]

68. Okay

Now let's see your stats that concealed carry has increased crime. You do know that over the last 30 years, 46 states have put concealed carry on the books? You do know that in these 46 states millions of people are carrying concealed every day? You do know that gun crime and violence in general has fallen over the last 20 years to 50 year lows? You do know that guns aren't made of meat? They don't spoil, therefore there are more guns on the streets every year since their invention. You do know that concealed weapon permit holders are less likely to commit any type of crime than even police officers? You do know that none of the doom predictions by the anti CCW crowd have come to pass, blood in the streets, crossfire situations, shootings over parking places? What do you fear from people who have gone to the trouble to pass criminal and mental background checks, taken classes, qualified on a range, paid the fees and carry concealed?

[spiritual_gunfighter]

70. My argument

isn't that concealed carry has increased crime but that it hasn't contributed to the decrease of crime at all. You said yourself that 46 states have put concealed carry on the books, so using your argument, wouldn't you think that we would have countless examples of people with legal concealed weapons thwarting crimes? The truth is that we don't, and you could only cite one example. I actually found another on You Tube so lets say there are two examples that we know of. I am willing to say there are probably 20 to 30 more, and even that is pulling a number out of my ass. There should be thousands of examples but there are nowhere near that amount. The reality is it just doesnt happen and that was your original argument. So unfortunately your argument holds no water. I wish it did because I am not against legal concealed firearms, probably to your surprise. What I was saying is that there are very few examples of people preventing crimes with a legally concealed firearm. It just doesnt happen.

[X_Digger]

76. Non-news doesn't make the news..

If I'm mugged and shot, I might make the news. If by pulling my gun a criminal turns and runs- I'll be calling the cops, but the media isn't likely to show up to document a non-shooting that resulted in a non-murder.

Check the gungeon for more posts on the defensive uses of firearms. (They do sometimes make the news, but someone usually has to get shot before it makes the media radar.)

[pipoman]

80. I didn't say any of the things you are attributing to me

There are numbers for 'defensive use of firearms' they do vary greatly...

* Americans use firearms to defend themselves from criminals at least 764,000 times a year. This figure is the lowest among a group of 9 nationwide surveys done by organizations including Gallup and the Los Angeles Times. (16b)

http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

My belief is that from a public safety aspect, we must compile statistics to determine if a policy is effective, dangerous or ineffectual, not allow anecdotes to effect or determine public policy. Statistically, I believe concealed carry is likely ineffectual. As an individual, I really couldn't give less of a damn about statistical probability, I am interested in anecdotes which may include me/my family. In the same way I don't give a damn the statistical probability that my house will burn down, I still maintain fire insurance for the unlikely, yet possible, anecdote which may devastate me/my family.

[beevul]

73. Actually, the security guard was a volunteer, NOT hired. N/T

[pattmarty]

31. I just love "you people", all the "bad guy" talk and such.......................

..............I am a hand gun owner and I don't think concealed carry is "the" answer. Sure you can point to a particular instance just as I can point to another instance where it didn't. A perfect example where a situation ended well was the sniper shooting of the 3 pirates, but that well could have ended badly. I believe it was the right call in that situation and the "shooters" were pros. You get in a crowded situation and with a person that is not professional it could be a bloodbath.

[Tim01]

39. I agree. Nothing is perfect.

But an armed person will be able to stay alive more often than an unarmed person.

"The answer"? Nope. But a handgun gives you options you don't have without the handgun. Same as a cell phone and pepper spray, and good running shoes.
Will running shoes save you? Maybe you will draw the badguys fire and he will hit a bunch of innocent people while you are trying to run away instead of staying put. Or maybe you will get away because you were not wearing 3 inch heels.

[tabasco]

46. I pity people who live in fear.

It sucks to be you.

[Tim01]

48. Ha ha! Well, that didn't take long.

Have a good evening.

[depakid]

43. "your emotions don't match up with reality."

A better illustration of irony impairment would be hard to find....

[Tim01]

52. Nothing factual to add, huh? Just thin insults. Good evening.

[Trajan]

50. IF ....

There are so many 'ifs' that it makes such claims useless ...

[Tim01]

54. There are no guarantees in anything.

If you drive a car you are more likely to be killed than if you don't drive. If you wear a seat belt you are less likely to be killed than if you don't wear a seat belt, but still more likely than somebody who doesn't drive. Nothing is set in stone but there are odds and and ways.
A person with a seat belt is more likely to do well in a car crash, and a person with a handgun is more likely do well in a violent encounter.
And even so, some people who don't drive will be killed by cars, and some people who never wear seat belts will be just fine. But I still prefer to wear my seat belt, it doesn't guarantee my safety, but it gives me better odds.

[geckosfeet]

25. Yeah. Right. A guy walks in behind the crowd who is watching a show in the dark.

Fires ten quick rounds and skedaddles.

My guess is that 99+% of concealed carry gun owners would hardly have time to id the shooter and pull out and cock their gun in the time it took him get out the front door and down the street.

Get real.

[Ian David]

26. If they'd all been wearing bulletproof jackets and helmets, maybe.

Or if each chair had a lexan shield.

[hack89]

12. There are plenty of concealed weapons on campus

the fact that it is illegal won't stop anyone who wants to carry.

[angstlessk]

15. I am sure this muther did not carry his guns on his hip in a holster either!

[cadaverdog]

40. guns on campus? checkout

the 20/20 special, "If I only had a gun." http://abcnews.go.com/2020

[hack89]

47. My point is that gun bans are meaningless

not only do they not stop mass murderers, they do not stop the thousands of people who routine carry concealed weapons (legally or otherwise.). They are simply feel good laws because there is absolutely no way to detect any violations short of metal detectors everywhere.

[spin]

51. The 20/20 special was worth watching but...

it's easy to argue that the selected students were set up to fail.

1) The shooter knew who was armed and targeted them.

2) The shooter was an instructor with far more training than the average mass murderer.

3) While some of the students had familiarity with firearms, none were off duty LEOs or ex-military. None had received advance training in shooting from a school such as Gunsite or one of the schools listed at this link: http://www.martialartsresource.com/firearms.htm or were members of the several groups how participate in the sport of defensive shooting such as IPDA.

4) The students were all wearing baggy T-shirts and thumb break holsters. While they had a little training with drawing the firearm, they had nowhere near the practice required to draw their weapon smoothly in an emergency. (I personally would never cover my weapon with a T-shirt or use a thumb break holster. I would cover the weapon with a unbuttoned, untucked shirt, a jacket or a vest. A good holster will hold a firearm firmly, a thumb break is more for an exposed weapon.

But to be fair, even a very experienced and trained shooter would be at a disadvantage in a classroom shooting. The 20/20 episode pointing out:

1) The importance of using the right equipment to conceal the weapon.

2) The importance of training with your firearm in realistic situations.

3) The importance of seeking cover.

4) The effects of stress on the body and how it can interfere with your response.

I found the 20/20 segment informative and I also had my daughter and son in law watch it. (We all have concealed carry permits.

[beevul]

74. About "if I only had a gun"...

See this link:

http://www.ignatius-piazza-front-sight.com/2009/04/20/ignatius-piazza-2020-gun-story-a-bit-blurry/


I thought it was generally agreed upon, hereabouts, that MSM is worthless.


Making an exception because the topic is guns, are we?

[Tim01]

20. Seriously.....

You have to know that if he plans on walking into a building and murdering people the "no guns" sign isn't going to stop him. Actually this was probably a "gun free" zone already.
I think this actually makes an argument in favor of concealed carry on campus.

[WheelWalker]

32. Indeed. I agree. It does make the argument. n/t

[Boojatta]

8. If they know that the suspect fired the shots, then why call him a "suspect"?

The suspect approached the Town and Gown Players Theater on Grady Avenue and started shooting.

[Sancho]

22. OMG...I was in plays at the Town & Gown when I was a student there...

this can't be random; he must have been after someone. I grew up in the rural south with a family that hunted and owned guns. All this violence makes me change my mind. There needs to be more gun control.

[Joanne98]

4. A marketing professor? Has got to be a RWer

[napi21]

10. Anything's possible, but Athens & UGA are not known for leaning RW,

I'll be anxious to hear from some of his students & people who knew him. Outside of DT Atlanta, Athens is one of the few BLUE places in Ga!

[wellst0nev0ter]

29. Uh, I Beg To Differ

I used to live in Athens back in when they opened up the new middle school, W. R. Coile (whoever he is). They had a contest to see what mascot they can come up with, and it was a choice between the Cobras or the Cougars. Well, since they are rightwing fundamentalist crazies, cobras are out because snakes are the embodiment of Satan or something, so they are now known as the Coile Cougars.

Oh yeah, and a white boy called a black girl "nigger" in front of the whole gym class and nothing was done about it. And they effectively had racial tracking in that school too. Best thing that happened to me was when I moved out of that godforsaken place, hell the whole godforsaken state.

[Athens30603]

36. A couple of isolated incidents

Sorry you had such a bad experience. Athens is a liberal haven.

[Athens30603]

34. Wrong.

No, he was a poet and a member of the theater. it's a local community theater.

[Dappleganger]

62. Why the hell does it matter?

God I hate when people try to pigeon-hole mental cases to make themselves feel more special.

[NJCher]

81. maybe

A friend who worked in university administration and who got transferred over to work in the business department tells me the distinguishing characteristic of business profs is the size of their egos.

Professors go nuts, too, just like everybody else. In fact today our local of the American Federation of Teachers had a meeting. Spotted at the meeting was a professor on our staff who had some mental issues earlier this year. She quit attending class and did not give the students or the school any notice that she was not showing up. She was replaced with another teacher.

She was hospitalized in a mental institution for around 10 days, I understand.

This was a case of being hit by too many issues in life at one time. Her brother had died suddenly and unexpectedly, followed by the death of a beloved pet. It was just too much for her to handle.

I and another professor spoke with her at the meeting. I was happy to learn she'd been given some coursework over the summer. It shows that compassionate people run our department.


Cher

[MinneapolisMatt]

6. More:

George M. Zinkhan is the Coca-Cola Company Professor of Marketing at the University of Georgia. Since receiving an M.B.A. in Operations Research (1979) and Ph.D. (1981) from the University of Michigan, he has published more than 150 articles in the areas of advertising, promotion, and electronic commerce. Besides teaching at the University of Michigan, he has also been a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Business, and at the University of Houston, where he was the Conn Appliances Professor Marketing. In the 1990s, Professor Zinkhan completed a four-year term as editor of the Journal of Advertising and a three-year term as book review editor for the Journal of Marketing. In 2006, he completed a three-year term as Editor for the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His two most recent co-authored books are: Electronic Commerce: A Strategic Perspective (2000, Dryden Press) and Consumers (2004, McGraw-Hill / Irwin). The American Academy of Advertising honored him in 2004 with its “Outstanding Contribution to Research Award.”


Link, and scroll to the bottom of the page:
http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/ama2006/bios/faculty.html

[angstlessk]

16. looks like he could be related to the unibomber??? just sayin? n/t

[Mike 03]

30. Thanks for posting this bio; I was curious about this. NT

[yardwork]

37. Wow. A full professor with a named chair. Coca-cola must be freaking out.

[NashVegas]

79. Coca Cola Professor of Marketing? Conn Appliances Professor? Talk About LOST IDENTITY

No wonder he flipped out.

[ProudDad]

82. Coca-Cola Company Professor of Marketing.

WTF!!!

I remember when the taxpayers used to pay to have great schools.

Now the corporations finance training centers for the capitalist f*cks who own everything...

WTF!!!

[Mithreal]

7. Usually marketing people are more subtle. nt

[ProudDad]

83. You haven't been watching much commercial TV lately, eh? (n/t)

[Mithreal]

84. Nope : ) nt

[nickyt]

9. Photo and alert at university website:

http://www.uga.edu/

damn, he looks like a nice enough fellow -

[Boojatta]

41. Meanwhile, actors who take gangster roles are often actually nice people.

How dare the universe prevent us from using superficial appearances to make accurate character judgments?

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

17. What was the performance?

Might give us a clue to something.

[slackmaster]

72. Probably the one that must never be mentioned in a theater

:hide:

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

78. The Aristocrats? (n/m)

[slackmaster]

86. No, just ask any professional actor or serious acting student

Any one of them should be able to tell you.

[FloridaJudy]

21. Holy crap!

And I thought one of UF's professors doing brain research was unhinged for taking his work home with him. Literally. He kept numerous preserved heads in his refrigerator and garage freezer. All died of natural causes, but that's still awfully creepy, and - needless to say - the subjects' relatives weren't thrilled.

I suppose a "publish or perish" comment would be in atrocious taste right now.

[geckosfeet]

24. Probably someone talking during the show. Bastards.

Theaters should hand out guns to people on the way in. Bet it would be a lot quieter during the show.

[Boojatta]

27. That depends. Would the guns handed out to people on the way in have silencers?

[Nostradammit]

33. World-class snark!

:applause:

[Athens30603]

35. It DID NOT happen during a show...

This happened during the theaters annual homecoming picnic.

[rocktivity]

45. "...(W)itnesses said...the victims...were Zinkan’s wife...and two men...

Current and former members of Town and Gown Players, a long-standing community theater group off Prince Avenue, had gathered for an annual reunion, when Zinkan started arguing with someone, left briefly and returned with two handguns...

(Someone) heard the shots around noon, but thought actors were rehearsing for tonight’s play, Sherlock Holmes..."
link

Hopefully Zinkan's has gotten whatever it is out his system is isn't planning to run around shooting people willy-nilly.

:(
rocktivity

[Synicus Maximus]

42. The shooting did not happen on campus. The theather is not on

campus it is a community playhouse, the alleged shooter happens to be a professor at UGA.

[alcibiades_mystery]

44. I wouldn't want this guy on my tenure committee

:hide:

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

49. That's it lets ban professors.

[depakid]

65. Fact is- no guns around, quarrel with ex-wife at theater doesn't end up with 3 people dead

Yet another instance of the general rule:

Having guns in the household makes one much more likely be involved in a tragedy or a violent crime.

Same with the other domestic dispute today that left two cops and the shooter dead.

QED.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

75. Any reliable statistics to back that up that household statistic?

Just to be fair let's keep it to legally possessed firearms in households.

David

[depakid]

77. Posted the studies many times

as you know.

[Tim01]

87. Fact: 2 to 10 times as many people die as a result of alcohol compared to guns.

And alcohol is good for nothing but getting drunk. Guns are useful tools.

But there won't be any talk of *alcohol control* because people consider it an acceptable number of deaths.

[mitchum]

53. I wondered why I was hearing helicopters earlier

They still haven't caught that sonofabitch yet

[ikojo]

55. Some commetns from ratemyprofessor.com

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=318505

great class 10/10/08

Witty guy, some information useful. But he demonstrated himself to be cold hearted and just plain nasty when I needed help. Stay away from this man. 2/18/08

[Liberal_in_LA]

56. I haven't been on that site for awhile. Thanks for reminding me it exists

[xchrom]

57. another fuckin mass shooting. nt

[applegrove]

58. When will this end?

[xchrom]

59. sadly -- i don't think any time soon. nt

[Tim01]

60. I think people still believe things are going to get worse, at least for a while.

And I think it is that feeling of hopelessness that is driving all this violence. When people are more hopeful, the violence will stop. I think people feel that the mess is so bad right now that it can not be fixed any time soon no matter who is in charge.
My $.02. Take it for what it's worth.

[xchrom]

61. who knows? -- you may be right --nt

[maddezmom]

63. US professor kills wife, two others in Georgia

US professor kills wife, two others in Georgia
3 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A US university professor shot and killed his wife and two others at a community theater in the college town of Athens, Georgia, after getting into an argument with a man, local news media reported.

The gunman, identified as University of Georgia professor George Zinkhan, 57, drove off in his car and was being sought by authorities, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on its website.

Two other people were wounded in Saturday's shooting, the newspaper reported.

The Georgia shooting was the latest in a spate of high-profile mass killings in the United States in recent months -- including half a dozen rampages since March. The latest, on April 18 in Maryland, saw a man kill his wife and three small children before committing suicide.

Zinkhan's motives were unclear, but witnesses told the Journal-Constitution he argued with an unidentified man at the Athens Community Theater before he left and returned minutes later brandishing two handguns.

more:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hwRcf56nE13t8mFbS5wPj7_Hn2sQ

[UpInArms]

69. related with more info: Net cast for Ga. prof suspected in fatal shootings

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iw8wxkpeLufk-1Be-7iJBhA344iAD97Q41K80

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Authorities from Georgia to Texas had little to go on Sunday as they searched for a University of Georgia professor suspected of shooting his ex-wife and two other men to death outside a theater near campus.

Neighbors watched Saturday as SWAT team members, guns drawn, swarmed their tidy middle-class suburb about seven miles from the campus looking for 57-year-old George Zinkhan. But he wasn't in his home or office and hadn't used his credit or ATM cards.

After the shootings, the man described as an introverted, respected marketing professor dropped his children off with a next-door neighbor and vanished in his red Jeep, police said.

"We're doing everything we can to shut him down," said Athens-Clarke County Police Capt. Clarence Holeman. "I believe he will turn up somewhere, somehow."

Authorities were monitoring airports in case Zinkhan tried to head to Amsterdam, where he owns a home, or Austin, Texas, where he has relatives.

"Anyone who shoots three people is dangerous, that's the best way I can put it," Holeman said.

Zinkhan had his son and daughter with him when he went to the Athens Community Theater on Saturday afternoon but left them in the Jeep as he fired at members of a local theater group, Holeman said.

...more...

[psychopomp]

71. Bizzare. "You kids wait in the car. I'm gonna kill mom."

Looks like the Prof. has completely flipped. Definitely dangerously deranged.

[Budgies Revenge]

64. The cops....

must be on pretty high alert right now. Tonight was also the night for the Twilight Criterium Bike Race in downtown Athens. Prince Ave runs parallel to and is just a block away from tons of bike race fans. This is just awful in general. The Town and Gown players and crew are some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. My thoughts and condolences go out to all the family and friends of the deceased.

As for Georgia gun law, you're not supposed to carry at a public gathering, so if there were any "law abiding" carry permit holders there, they probably would have locked it in their car before going to the event.

[Athens30603]

67. The crowd at twilight...

was largely oblivious to all this which, in actuality, is good because it would have caused panic. This shooting was not random at all. It was specifically targeted. Of course, we didn't know that for several hours today but we now know it was not at all random.

[raccoon]

85. Well, so much for the stereotype of college professors being peaceniks. nt