US authorities were on a nationwide manhunt for a University of Georgia professor in the shooting deaths of three people, including his ex-wife, at a community theatre near campus.
Athens-Clarke County Police Captain Clarence Holeman said authorities were searching for a suspect, 57-year-old George Zinkhan, who has been a marketing professor at the university in Athens since the 1990s, and lived about seven miles from campus.
Killed were Mr Zinkhan’s ex-wife, Marie Bruce, 47, Tom Tanner, 40, and Ben Teague, 63, Capt Holeman said. Both men were involved with the theatre group in Athens, about 70 miles east of Atlanta.
The shooting happened outside the Athens Community Theatre during a mid-day gathering of Town and Gown Players Inc, a local theatre group.
Capt Holeman said the shooter left his two young children in the car when he opened fire on the group.
A neighbour of Mr Zinkhan’s said the professor later dropped off the children with him next door and left after saying there was an emergency. The children were with police.
Coroner Sonny Wilson said the three victims were shot multiple times. Two other people were injured by shrapnel and their conditions were not immediately known.
Two different guns were involved in the shooting, and neither was recovered at the scene, Capt Holeman said. Investigators searched Mr Zinkhan’s house in a suburb about eight miles from campus, but did not find the two weapons, Capt Holeman said.
Authorities issued a nationwide alert for Mr Zinkhan.
AP