1999 Atlanta day trading firm shootings

On July 29, 1999, a shooting spree occurred at two Atlanta-area day trading firms, Momentum Securities and the All-Tech Investment Group.

[1] Police searching Barton's home in nearby Stockbridge found the bodies of his second wife and the two children from his first marriage, murdered by hammer blows inflicted before the shooting spree started.

On July 27, 1999, Mark Orrin Barton woke up early in the morning at his home in Stockbridge, Georgia, and bludgeoned his second wife, Leigh Ann Vandiver, to death as she slept.

He covered them with blankets and left notes on their bodies, reading in part:[2] I killed Leigh Ann because she was one of the main reasons for my demise.

I don't plan to live very much longer, just long enough to kill as many of the people that greedily sought my destruction.On July 29, Barton went to the offices of his former employer, Momentum Securities, in Atlanta.

[3] The police searched his house and found the bodies of his family and the notes that he had left with them, in which Barton vehemently denied responsibility for the deaths of his first wife and mother-in-law.

Four hours after the All-Tech Investment Group shooting, Barton accosted and threatened a young girl in Kennesaw, apparently attempting to secure a hostage for his escape.

[6] Mark Orrin Barton (April 2, 1955 – July 29, 1999) was born in Stockbridge, Georgia, to an Air Force family and was raised in South Carolina.

[5] Barton had received a $294,000 insurance settlement from his first wife's death and used the funds to finance his day trading career, preferring high-risk Internet-related stocks.