Gunman’s Wife Is Buried as Atlanta Prays for Peace

Mourners packed a rural church Sunday for the funeral of Leigh Ann Barton, the first of 12 victims in her husband’s killing spree last week, as a pastor urged them not to “allow her murder to cloud our memory.”

Girl Scouts in uniform passed out tissues before the service.

Mark Orrin Barton, 44, killed his wife with a hammer Tuesday night in her suburban apartment south of Atlanta. It was the first in a string of homicides that would become Georgia’s worst mass killing this century.

On Wednesday, Mark Barton bludgeoned to death his two children from a previous marriage. The next day, he marched into two brokerage firms in Atlanta’s Buckhead commercial district and opened fire with two handguns, killing nine people and wounding 13. When police cornered him hours later, he committed suicide.

“I’m afraid there’s a temptation to become focused on the horrible events of last week,” the Rev. Doug Davis told about 400 mourners at the Lizella Baptist Church, 11 miles west of Macon, where Leigh Ann Barton grew up. “If we give in to that temptation, we do a great disservice to Leigh Ann.”

Davis also read a letter from Leigh Ann Barton’s sister, Dana Reeves.

“I only wish I could have spared you all of this. . . . I know you are in a safe place now,” the letter said.

Also Sunday, services were held in Peachtree City for shooting victim Vadewattee Muralidhara, 44. She will be buried in her native Trinidad. A memorial service was held Sunday for Allen Tenenbaum, who was buried Friday.

Nine of the wounded were still hospitalized Sunday, three in critical condition.

Many churches in the area addressed the violence in Sunday’s services.

At the Antioch Baptist Church North in Atlanta, the Rev. Kenneth L. Alexander asked parishioners to “pray for our city. The devil is busy.”

Mark Barton’s lawyer said Sunday that the gunman approved some changes to his will Thursday morning, a few hours before the shootings but gave no indication that he had already killed his wife and children. Douglasville attorney Joe Fowler would not comment on Barton’s changes.

A funeral for Mark Barton’s children--Matthew, 11, and Mychelle, 7--is scheduled for today in Lithia Springs.