GUNMAN OPEN FIRES, KILLS WIFE, AND INJURES OTHERS

April 27, 2009
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — For more than 55 years, the volunteer actors and stagehands of the Town & Gown Players have entertained patrons in this Southern college town with all manner of productions: Shakespearian classics, Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals and Woody Allen's screwball comedies.

But nothing could prepare them for the real-life tragedy that struck over the weekend.

A gunman, identified by police as University of Georgia marketing professor George Zinkhan, opened fire with two handguns during a reunion picnic for Town & Gown volunteers Saturday outside the Athens Community Theater. Three of the group's members fell dead, including the professor's wife, and two others were injured by shrapnel.

Authorities still don't know the motive for the shooting, and the search for Zinkhan, 57, continued Monday. Police said they had no leads on his whereabouts.

"I've talked to my friends who were there, and they said he was very methodical and went in and just started (shooting)," said Dina Canup, a Town & Gown member since 2001. "It's just unfathomable."

University officials have issued an advisory urging students to remain cautious until Zinkhan is arrested, though police said Monday they don't believe there's any imminent threat to the university.

"We don't feel like the campus is in any danger from Mr. Zinkhan," Athens-Clarke County police Capt. Clarence Holeman said. "He killed the people he wanted to kill."

Meanwhile, the Town & Gown troupe — described by member Jace Gordon as a "second family" — consoled one another and reflected on three slain friends.