Barton's shooting spree left nine dead and 13 wounded
THE NOTES: Excerpts from the letter found in the Barton family living room Notes left with bodies Police read the notes left behind by Barton (July 30) Windows Media 28K 80K RELATED VIDEO CNN's Tony Clark looks back on what has been a violent period for the Atlanta area (July 31) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Barton, described by friends and neighbors as normal, left notes on the bodies of his family. CNN's Mike Boettcher reports. (July 30) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K To view the latest video streams, use the arrow buttons below to scroll through the video gallery.        Windows Media Real        28 K 80 K RELATED AUDIO The 911 call made from the Atlanta office complex where nine people were shot AIFF or WAV (285 K/24 sec. audio) Use the arrow buttons below to scroll through the audio gallery AIFF   WAV MESSAGE BOARDS Message Board INTERACTIVE Images of the Atlanta Shootings  ALSO: Memories of those who died: They loved travel, fly-fishing Barton killed 'himself many times over,' psychiatrist says Day trading: risk, reward or ruin Emergency response to trauma makes life or death difference Atlanta gunman remained suspect in '93 Alabama killings Fatalities in the Atlanta shootings Employees return to buildings one day after shooting rampage Ten still hospitalized after Atlanta office shootings

July 31, 1999
Web posted at: 8:27 p.m. EDT (0027 GMT)

In this story: Barton knew risks of day trading 'I have come to hate this life' 'We can only wonder' RELATED STORIES, SITES

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Police on Saturday were still trying to piece together a motive after a Georgia man bludgeoned his wife and children to death this week, then followed those murders with an Atlanta shooting spree that left nine dead and 13 wounded before killing himself.

Some of the survivors of the shooting "identified Mark Barton as the person who perpetrated these acts," Atlanta Police Chief Beverly Harvard told CNN. "But we are still looking, trying to find answers as to why."

Barton reportedly lost $105,000 in the stock market between June 9 and July 27 and the shootings were conducted at day-trading brokerage firms, but authorities have not ascribed the losses as a motive for Barton's actions.

On Tuesday, Barton killed his wife, Leigh Ann, 27, investigators said. On Wednesday, he killed his two children by a previous marriage -- 11-year-old Matthew and 8-year-old Mychelle.

On Thursday, Barton went on to carry out Atlanta's worst mass murder when he opened fire at two day-trading brokerage firms, Momentum Securities and All-Tech Investment Group. He left a note suggesting a deeper anguish than financial loss, vowing to "kill ... people that greedily sought my destruction."

Barton eluded police for five hours after the shooting began, until he was surrounded at a service station in Acworth, Georgia, 32 miles (51 km) northwest of Atlanta. As police closed in, he shot and killed himself.

Barton knew risks of day trading

Barton 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 was listed as $85,000.

A source familiar with Barton's trading activities said the 44-year-old chemical salesman lost money -- about $20,000 --on Tuesday. 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."

Momentum President James Lee said that Barton met the company's requirements to be a day trader.

"The documents he signed indicated that he understood the potential risks in the world of day trading," Lee said. "He was an experienced trader. It is important to remember that the trading decisions that he made were his own."

Linda Lerner, an attorney for All-Tech Investment Group, said there was nothing unusual about Barton's trading activities with her company. He was "going through a difficult divorce," she added.

"I don't know that you can necessarily tie his trading to these killings," Lerner said from All-Tech's headquarters in Montvale, New Jersey. "He was a customer until a couple of months ago, and then he went to another firm to trade. We're going through his account now to determine what his trading gains and losses were."

'I have come to hate this life'

Barton left a computer generated note in the apartment where the bodies of his wife and children were found. He wrote that he had "been dying since October." and that his fears have "taken (their) toll."

"I have come to hate this life in this system of things," Barton wrote. "I have come to have no hope."

The note described how he killed his wife and children.

"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.

Barton denied killing his first wife, Debra, and her mother Eloise Spivey, in a brutal 1993 slaying in Alabama.

"There may be similarities between these deaths and the death of my first wife Debra Spivey," he wrote. "However, I deny killing her and her mother. There is no reason for me to lie now."

Despite the denial, police in Cherokee County, Alabama, say Barton remains their one and only suspect. He was never arrested, they said, because they were never able to amass enough evidence positively tying him to the crimes.

'We can only wonder'

A day after killing his children, Barton drove to Atlanta's upscale Buckhead district and walked into the All-Tech offices. He spoke with some of the employees and customers for about a half an hour, and then opened fire, killing four.

The Barton family from left: Mychelle, Leigh Ann, Mark, and Matthew

While frightened employees called 911, Barton slipped out and crossed the street to Momentum, where he began shooting again, killing five. Then he slipped past police who were searching the buildings and drove away.

Harvard said her officers were doing their jobs properly by focusing on searching the buildings.

"They had no reason to believe he was not still somewhere in the building," she told CNN. "The concern was that we had additional innocent people in the building. We had two buildings, each seven-story buildings."

Harvard also said a search of Barton's minivan found the two weapons he used in the Buckhead shootings. Two additional weapons were also found, along with 200 rounds of ammunition.

"Certainly, given the amount of weapons that he had, given the amount of ammunition that he had, we can only wonder at his intent," she said.

Correspondents Kate Snow, Jim Clancy , and Martin Savidge contributed to this report.