Police: Gunman may have waited for Atlanta victim (AP)

ATLANTA – A security guard accused of a shooting spree in Atlanta may have been waiting for the woman he shot dead in a parking garage, police said Saturday. Two women who survived the attack were apparently sprayed at random as he raced from the scene, they said.

The suspect stole his first victim's Toyota Prius and shot the other women from inside the car as he drove out of the parking deck Friday, said Atlanta police Maj. Keith Meadows. Hours later, Nkosi Thandiwe called an attorney and turned himself in after he saw he had been identified by police.

Thandiwe waived an initial court appearance on Saturday at the Fulton County Jail. His attorney Rickey Richardson declined to comment on the case.

Thousands of professionals who work in the densely packed office towers of Atlanta's midtown district were headed to lunch on Friday when the gunfire broke out. Witnesses said they took cover when they heard popping sounds and later saw a woman face down on the concrete.

"I heard a pop, pop, pop," said Meredith Smith, who was leaving work when she heard the shots ring out. "It sounded like fireworks."

Police say the violence began when Thandiwe shot 26-year-old Brittney Watts in the neck on the third-floor of the parking deck outside the high-rise where he worked.

"He may have been waiting for his victim inside of the parking structure," said Meadows, who heads the city's major crimes division.

While he was fleeing the scene in Watts' car, authorities said, he sprayed the parking deck with bullets and wounded two women who worked at the MSL Group, a public relations firm. Authorities say 23-year-old intern Lauren Garcia and 24-year-old assistant account executive Tiffany Ferenczy were both in stable condition after being struck.

"We believe they might have been random victims," said Meadows. "He did flee the scene and he fired from the inside of the vehicle. There was no reason for him to actually fire upon those two victims."

Thandiwe worked for AlliedBarton Security Services, which said it was shocked that one of its employees was implicated in the shooting.

Company spokesman Alan Stein said Saturday Thandiwe had worked for the firm for less than year. He said AlliedBarton conducted a thorough background check that didn't reveal any prior crimes.

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Hilton brother to compensate drunk driving victim (AFP)

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Barron Hilton, younger brother of US socialite Paris Hilton, was ordered by a California court to pay almost $4.9 million to a gas station attendant he struck while driving intoxicated, the victim's attorney said.

According to authorities, in February 2008 Barron Hilton struck Fernando Mendoza Tellez, an employee at a Malibu gas station.

Hilton, who was 18 years old at the time, was driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

An investigation also showed that Hilton had allegedly driven around Malibu in his Mercedes-Benz and was involved in a collision with at least one other vehicle before he hit Tellez that day.

According to the ruling, Hilton must pay Tellez a sum of some $4.89 million for the pain, suffering, medical expenses and loss of income that the accident caused.

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3rd victim in Pa. shooting rampage dies of wounds (AP)

PHILADELPHIA – A woman who was among five people shot during a rampage at her weekend home in eastern Pennsylvania died Thursday, the third victim in a home invasion that police said was orchestrated by an ex-convict later shot dead in a standoff.

The Lehigh County coroner's office said 58-year-old Monica Shay of New York City died of her injuries at a hospital in Allentown. Her nephew, 43-year-old Joseph Shay, and 2-year-old Gregory Erdmann, were killed in the shooting.

Monica Shay's husband, Paul, and the toddler's mother, 37-year-old Kathryn Erdmann of Fall River, Mass., were also shot but survived. Erdmann was the nephew's girlfriend.

Paul Shay owns a plumbing company in New York City. Monica Shay worked as the director of the arts and cultural management program at Pratt Institute.

"The Pratt Institute community is shocked and deeply saddened by Professor Monica Shay's untimely death," said Pratt Institute President Thomas F. Schutte. "Professor Shay was an esteemed educator who demonstrated inspiring leadership as head of the Institute's arts and cultural management program. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to her family and friends and to all of those at the Institute whose lives she touched."

Police said ex-convict Mark Geisenheyner stormed the vacation house in Douglass Township on July 2 to seek revenge on Shay's husband. Authorities said this week that Geisenheyner, who died Monday in a standoff with police, claimed Paul Shay had cheated him in an insurance scam.

Since leaving prison last year, the 51-year-old Geisenheyner had been vowing revenge on Shay. He broke into the Shays' home late Saturday and said, "Guess you never thought you'd see me again," before shooting Shay in the head. Geisenheyner then shot the four others.

Paul Shay and Kathryn Erdmann are still hospitalized but have been talking to investigators.

Geisenheyner told friends that he had taken the rap and been cut out of the profits for an insurance scam he and Shay had concocted, investigators said earlier this week.

Geisenheyner was arrested for possessing artwork that had been reported stolen from the Shays' home in 2006 and was sent back to prison on a parole violation, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman said. Paul Shay was not apparently charged, and Ferman said she didn't know if there was any truth to Geisenheyner's account. Shay filed an insurance claim on the painting, which went missing about a month after a fire at his home.

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