Kill me if you can, frenzied Burton urged authorities

New York, July 31: The man who went on a frenzied shooting spree in Atlanta, killing 12 people including his wife and two children, had invited the authorities to “kill me if you can” as he set out to “kill the people who greedily sought my destruction”, notes left behind by him reveal.

Mark Burton, who killed nine employees of two brokerage firms on Thursday, had battered his wife and two children to death before embarking on the shooting spree. Three handwritten and one computer-typed notes were found near the bodies. “I don’t plan to live very much longer, just long enough to kill as many of the people who greedily sought my destruction,” the note said. The last line in the rambling note was: “You should kill me if you can.”

Burton, 44, who reportedly lost $105,000 in stock trading over seven weeks, killed his wife Ann from whom he was getting divorce on Tuesday, the day he reportedly lost $20,000, because “she was one of the main reasons for my demise”.

The next day he killed his childrenand on Thursday, drove to the office complex and went on the shooting spree and then killed himself when police caught up with him. He left a stuffed toy on the body of his daughter and a video game on the body of his son.