Georgia Professor George Zinkhan Ruled Suicide

CNN reports on the final chapter in a truly bizarre story.

A wanted University of Georgia professor killed himself with a single gunshot to the head after he dug his own grave and covered it with brush, police said Tuesday.

"Zinkhan's body was found in a small dugout area in the ground, covered with leaves and debris, and it was apparent that he took significant steps to try to conceal his body from being located," a statement from Athens police said.

Does that mean he dug the shallow grave, got in it, covered himself with leaves and debris all the time holding the gun with which he shot himself in the head? I certainly can't see any reason why investigators would invent such a wild story. Can you?

The particulars of his suicide combined with the way he decided to spare his children by leaving them with the neighbor, make this one of the weirdest cases we've discussed.

One of the things that happens in cases like this is information about the gun, its provenance, its history, its role in the crime is lost. Who cares about that when we've got suicide, murder and attempted murder to deal with? This is exactly where the Tiahrt Amendments come into the picture. Tracing the firearm from its manufacturer to the criminal owner is extremely useful information. The more complete the information is the better the recommendations would be as to finding solutions to gun violence. I find it absolutely unconscionable that people who consider themselves upstanding lawful gun owners would support provisions like the Tiahrt Amendments which hinder this process.

What's your opinion? Why do gun owners not cooperate in the efforts too police themselves? Why do they resist even common sense initiatives like a gun trace information database?

Please feel free to leave a comment.

Georgia Professor George Zinkhan Found Dead

CNN reports on the story of Georgia Professor George Zinkhan, who shot and killed his wife and two others two weeks ago and promptly vanished.

The body of a University of Georgia professor accused of killing three people was found Saturday buried in woods near Athens, Georgia, authorities said.

Cadaver dogs discovered the body with two guns in a wooded area of northwest Clarke County, about a mile from where Zinkhan's red Jeep Liberty was found last week, Athens-Clarke Police Chief Joseph Lumpkin said.

Athens-Clarke County police confirmed the identity of the body, citing results from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The guns are like those authorities believe were used in the shootings, Lumpkin said.

The body was found "beneath the earth," Lumpkin said, without any clothes.

On the night of the killing, as we discussed before, there was one strange, or at least unusual aspect. Prof. Zinkhan dropped his two young kids off at the neighbor's house before fleeing, saying to the neighbor he'd be back in an hour or so. That was a departure from the all too common cases we see reported in which the crazed dad kills the whole family with his guns.

With the discovery of his body, the case got that much more bizarre. Was he the victim of a random and unrelated murder? Was it suicide after all? Who then buried him in the woods? It certainly is a fascinating case.

One thing is clear for me, as long as we allow the bullying voices of the pro-gun folks and the NRA and the Gun Lobby in Washington to have their way, guys like Zinkhan will always have easy access to guns. I say that's too heavy a price to pay for what they call a god-given right. What do you think?

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Georgia Professor Still at Large One Week Later

George Martin Zinkhan III, who shockingly killed his wife and two others one week ago, is still on the run. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution web site has a fascinating article into the man's background.

He was described as aloof and introverted, a prodigious researcher and academic writer. Certainly not someone suspected of violent tendencies.

“I never even heard him raise his voice to his kids or Marie, and my daughter, who baby-sat for them, said the same thing,” said Bob Covington, who lived next door to the family for nine years.

Covington said Zinkhan was an introvert who revealed little to those in his Bogart subdivision. He wasn’t terribly unfriendly, Covington said; he just seemed to be somewhere else.

Before coming to UGA, he taught at the University of Houston where some students remember him fondly. Richard Tansey, who studied at the university in the late 1980s and early 1990s, took some of Zinkhan’s classes and went to him for advice.

“George created a nurturing environment,” Tansely told the UGA newspaper, the Red & Black.

“I would have never gotten a Ph.D. in marketing without George.”

Zinkhan joined UGA in 1994 as head of the marketing department in the Terry School of Business. He was already a published academic and had left an ex-wife and three children behind in Texas.

Does anyone else think that's significant? The fact that he'd already had a wife and three kids in Houston. It sheds some light on the, at least up till now, inexplicable act of leaving his two young kids with the neighbor after the shooting and taking off, don't you think?

The only thing I can come up with is that, unknown to anyone, Professor Zinkhan had a problem with anger. And perhaps also unknown to anyone, he suffered from the same insane idea that so many suffer from today, the idea that in certain situations violence with a gun is the answer.

Whatever triggered his violent attack, whether his wife had been cheating on him, or if she had decided she no longer loved him, or perhaps it had nothing to do with her and was about one of the others he killed, whatever it was, his response was over the top. I see this type of excessive response just slightly differently from that case we discussed the other day in which someone being wronged decided that blowing away the offending party is the answer.

To me, this is one of the hidden problems with the pro-gun movement. The ones who are within the law and the ones who commit cold blooded murder have exactly the same mentality. "If you offend me enough, I'll blow you away."

What's your opinion? The comments which come will probably demonstrate this same thinking, I predict. My challenge is to the pro-gun person who knows he doesn't suffer from this mental illness, if I can call it that, to dispassionately describe the difference.

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Georgia Professor Kills Three and Flees

CNN reports on the shooting that took place in Georgia yesterday. A University of Georgia professor George Zinkhan, shot and killed his wife and two others before fleeing.

A University of Georgia professor apparently shot and killed his wife and two other people at a community theater group's reunion Saturday, then dropped the couple's two children off at a neighbor's and fled.

Athens-Clarke County police said they have local, regional and national alerts out for George Zinkhan, 57, an endowed marketing professor at the school's Terry College of Business.

Zinkhan was not at the theater event initially, Holeman said, but when he arrived, he got into "a disagreement" with his wife. He left the scene -- police believe to his car, where his children were waiting -- and returned with two handguns.

This is yet another sad story that perfectly illustrates some of our most common, and most debated themes.

Gun availability. Whenever someone decides to kill in the heat of an argument or in a rageful fit or on the spur of the moment, just like when someone concludes that suicide is the answer while home alone in the nadir of depression, gun availability is critical. What should be done about that is another question, but I submit that in this particular case we have another example in which the shooter's mini arsenal, which was readily available in the car, made the difference.

Gun flow. Here's another case of a presumably law abiding gun owner turning bad. There was no indication that he was anything other than a normal guy who was exercising his 2nd Amendment right to self protection - at least that's what some people say the 2nd Amendment is all about. I and many others are not so sure. The gun flow in this case is the hidden one, the one which concerns itself more with people than weapons. But, just like its big brother, the flow of stolen or improperly sold guns, this type of gun flow is continual.

Concealed Carry on campus. The pro-gun folks say that allowing concealed carry on college campuses would be helpful in thwarting school shootings. I admit they have a good argument, but here's an example of how disaster would follow. Allowing professors and older students to carry on campus presumes that they can be trusted to manage their guns responsibly. This is too big a presumption for the simple reason that people are people, even gun owners, even gun owners with the Concealed Carry license.

There are a couple of fascinating twists to this tragic story, particularly that unlike some of the high profile shootings lately, he didn't shoot the kids as well. It was reported that he drove them to a neighbor's immediately after killing their mother. Lucky kids, or are they?

"It appeared he and his wife were having problems," police Capt. Clarence Holeman said.

Two other people were wounded by ricocheting bullets, Holeman said, but did not identify them. At least 20 people were in attendance at the event, he said.

After making that unintentional joke about their "having problems," the police captain provided an interesting piece of information we don't often hear. This is called collateral damage. When it's less than fatal it often gets overlooked, not only in criminal shootings but in the so-called defensive uses of guns. I would imagine people who are suddenly shot by ricocheting bullets might suffer terribly for a long, long time both physically and emotionally. This is part of gun violence too.

What's your opinion? Did you notice in the story that when he decided to kill his wife he had to go out to his car to get the guns, the car in which his two young children were waiting? I suppose the weapons could have been locked in the glove compartment, but still it makes you wonder.

Do you agree with me about gun availability plays a part in many of these tragedies? Wouldn't it be possible to agree with that and still maintain your gun-rights position?

Please feel free to leave a comment.