Richard Sigman Carrollton professor shoots incoming University of West Georgia freshman student and innocent bystander, Anna Jones dead sitting in parked car after quarrel at nearby pizza restaurant.
And yet another senseless shooting death … A university professor has been charged with murder after he shot and killed an 18-year-old female freshman student as she sat inside her vehicle at a Georgia parking garage.
Richard Sigman, a business lecturer at the University of West Georgia, allegedly got into an argument with a man at Leopold’s pizza restaurant in Carrollton circa Friday midnight and threatened to shoot him.
Fearing for his life, the man alerted security guards at the restaurant upon learning Sigman was carrying a concealed weapon. Security in turn demanded Sigman leave the premises.
Incensed, the 47-year-old university professor stormed outside towards the direction of where Anna Jones, 18, had momentarily parked her car.
For reasons not immediately understood, the educator began to fire multiple shots in the direction of the woman’s car, with a bullet striking Jones.
Tragic irony: shot dead by professor at new upcoming college
Despite being rushed to hospital, the recent high school graduate was pronounced dead on arrival.
Jones ironically had been slated to start university in the fall. The same college where Sigman lectured at.
Sigman was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning and charged with murder, aggravated assault along with illegal possession of a firearm, the Carrollton Police Department said in a Facebook release.
Jones, who had graduated from local Mount Zion high school weeks before her tragic death, had enrolled as an incoming freshman at the University of West Georgia.
Sigman meanwhile had his contract terminated immediately by the university in the wake of the shooting, which transpired just a mile and a half from college grounds, 11 Alive News reported.
Said University President Brendan Kelly in a release shared with CBS 46: ‘The University of West Georgia has learned of the loss of one of its students, Anna Jones, who passed away following an off-campus incident earlier today.
‘UWG has terminated the employment of Richard Sigman and continues to work with the city of Carrollton Police Department, which leads this ongoing investigation.’
Why did UWG lecturer shoot freshman student dead?
The quarrel, cops said, began inside Leopoldo’s Pizza Napoletana in Adamson Square, but spilled out into the parking lot after Sigman threatened to shoot the man with a concealed handgun.
Security guards at the establishment intervened, kicking Sigman out, angering the lecturer.
The professor then walked to a parking deck at a courthouse about a block away from the restaurant, and inexplicably opened fire on the parked car in which Jones was sitting.
Friends who had reportedly been accompanying the teen drove their stricken friend to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival, police said.
It is still unclear whether Sigman had opened fire in a deliberate attack on Jones or whether she was simply caught in crossfire when Sigman began firing wildly.
The university confirmed Saturday that Jones was a student at the university poised to start class later this month.
‘I will miss her forever’,
‘On behalf of the university, we wish to convey our deepest condolences to Anna´s family and many friends,’ University of West Georgia President Dr. Brendan Kelly said in a statement to social media.
‘We know this news is difficult to process and affects many members of our university community,’ it went on.
‘We ask that you keep Anna’s family, friends, and all who have been touched by this tragedy in your thoughts during this tremendously difficult time.’
The University added that Sigman – who is pictured with blood streaked across his face in his booking photo – was fired after the charges were brought against him.
Jones, who had been a resident of nearby Jonesboro and a recent graduate of the Mount Zion high school, was remembered by family and friends as ‘a beautiful, sweet soul [whose] smile would light up a room’.
Posted girl’s parents on a GoFundme fundraiser: ‘As with most parents, you never think that you will need life insurance for your child.
‘This was a devastating and senseless crime that left a lot of hearts broken, a community mourning, and a family grieving.’
‘I will miss her forever’, said friend Ethan Lepard in a Facebook post. ‘There are so many good qualities, no one could list them all.’
