Atlanta Gunman’s 2 Children Eulogized

Boys and girls dressed in their Scout uniforms on Monday escorted the coffins of Matthew and Mychelle Barton, whose father killed them and tucked them into bed with their toys before going on a deadly shooting rampage.

Pictures of the victims in soccer and cheerleading outfits sat in a hallway outside the White Columns Chapel in this Atlanta suburb, where they were eulogized as lovable, active children.

Fellow Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts acted as pallbearers.

“I want to remind you how your lives have been enriched just by knowing them,” the Rev. Kenneth Hennesy said, recalling how Matthew loved baseball and the Boy Scouts, and how Mychelle was an active Girl Scout. “Sometimes the answers are not there for the understanding of man, but there for us when we get to heaven.”

Their father, Mark Orrin Barton, killed the children Wednesday, a day after he had killed their stepmother. He crushed their skulls with a hammer and dunked them in a bathtub to ensure they were dead.

In a note left at the scene, Barton said he wanted to spare the children from “a lifetime of pain.” A day later, Barton opened fire in two Atlanta brokerage offices, killing nine.

At the church, Teddy bears and inscriptions “Gone to be with Momma” decorated the pulpit, where Hennesy told about 300 mourners that they shouldn’t question why Matthew, 11, and Mychelle, 7, were killed.

The funeral for Barton’s two youngest victims was one of three held Monday.

In Houston, services were held for Kevin Dial, 36, a manager at Momentum Securities. Momentum officials said last week that Barton had lost more than $100,000 while day trading with the company.

During his funeral, his family disclosed that Dial suffered from inoperable brain cancer that had not responded to treatment.

In Sandy Springs, north of Atlanta, a memorial service was held for Russell Brown, 42, who had been day trading at Momentum Securities.