A university professor has been charged with murder after he shot and killed an 18-year-old girl who was poised to begin her studies at his college in the fall, according to police.
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 late on Friday night and threatened to shoot him.
Fearing for his life, the man alerted security guards at the restaurant around midnight, who understood Sigman was carrying a concealed weapon and asked him to leave.
Incensed, the 47-year-old university professor stormed outside and into the parking lot and fired multiple shots into a car, where recent high school graduate Anna Jones was sitting.
Jones, who local reports suggest was an innocent bystander, was struck by one of the bullets and grievously wounded.
She was rushed to hospital by friends but was pronounced dead on arrival.
It is still unclear why Sigman unloaded his pistol into a parked vehicle, but Carrollton Police Department officers arrested the professor in the early hours of Saturday morning and later confirmed he had been charged with murder, aggravated assault in connection and illegal possession of a firearm.
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.
University President Brendan Kelly said: ‘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.’
Richard Sigman was fired from the University of West Virginia Saturday, and is now behind bars and out of a job as a result of the Saturday night slaying
Anna Jones, a recent high school graduate who was enrolled as an incoming freshman at the University of West Georgia, was killed by Sigman, cops said, after the business professor got into an argument with another man and inexplicably fired on the girl’s vehicle
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 handgun he had concealed on his person.
Security guards at the establishment then intervened, kicking Sigman out and further angering the lecturer.
Detectives say 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 quarrel, cops said, began inside the eatery, Leopoldo’s Pizza Napoletana in Adamson Square, but spilled out into the parking lot after Sigman threatened to shoot the man with a handgun he had had concealed on his person
That’s when detectives say the professor walked to a parking deck at a courthouse about a block away from the restaurant (pictured at right), and inexplicably opened fire on the parked car in which Jones was sitting
It is not immediately clear if Sigman has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.
The university confirmed Saturday that Jones was a student at the university poised to start class later this month.
‘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 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,' in a GoFundMe created after the murder](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/08/01/07/60928211-11068049-image-a-38_1659334130054.jpg)
Jones, who had been a resident of nearby Jonesboro and a 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,’ in a GoFundMe created after the murder
A GoFundMe, created by the tragic victim’s friends and family, left a touching tribute to the slain freshman.
Jones, who had been a resident of nearby Jonesboro and a 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’.
The girl’s mourning parents wrote: ‘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.’
Georgia Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan, whose legislative district includes Carroll County where the incident took place, said: ‘A senseless act of violence resulted in the death of Anna Jones, a Mt. Zion graduate who was attending the University of West Georgia this fall.
‘I’m holding her friends and family in my thoughts and prayers — I’d ask for everyone to do the same.’
Her friend Ethan Lepard told the Post: ‘I will miss her forever. There are so many good qualities, no one could list them all.’