COMMERCE, Ga. -- A Commerce man shot his wife and shot and killed her 6-year-old grandson during a family fight Sunday, authorities said. The suspect was later shot by police.

Police said Monday the confrontation began over a watermelon.

The shooting happened in the 200 block of Troy Street at about 12:55 p.m. in Commerce on Sunday.

Police said the suspect's wife, 58-year-old Linda Clark, called authorities to the home saying she had been shot.



When police arrived on the scene, they said 55-year-old Robert Clark opened fire on them.

Police said they were able to convince Robert Clark to allow his injured wife and one of two grandchildren who were in the house to come out. Soon after, police said he opened the front door with a gun in his hand and they shot him.

When authorities entered the residence, they found one of Linda Clark's grandchildren, Michael Levigne, 6, dead.

Police said they found a second grandchild, a 5-year-old boy, inside the house unharmed.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Jeff Dore went to Commerce Monday to talk with the police chief about the incident. Police said it appeared the shooting began with a fight over a watermelon.


I'm not sure that it's easy to get your mind around that concept, but we believe it was some sort of issue with the child either dropping or prematurely cutting this watermelon that initially precipitated the argument," said Commerce Police Chief John Gaissert.

The suspect and his wife were life-flighted to Grady Memorial Hospital. They were both listed in stable condition.

Gaissert said the Clark home has been a frequent scene of trouble, with seven 911 calls to the house in the past year.

The second grandchild has been placed in the custody of the Department of Family and Children Services.

Police said the children were Linda Clark's maternal grandchildren. Robert Clark was not biologically related to the children, although he and his wife had custody of the children.

Police have not located the children's mother and, in the past, their father has been arrested on drug charges, police said. Gaissert characterized the family situation as "dysfunctional."

Robert Clark has been charged with murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated assault on police.

Hey, you can bring your guns to the National Parks!

I simply cannot fucking deal w/ this, people need a lifetime supply of therapy FUCKING TRAGIC, man


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[Edited 6/8/09 13:15pm]

CalhounSq said:

I'm getting a bit numb 2 all of the senseless killing going on lately. Especially with lil kids.

You think an adult would give themselves a time-out.

SUPRMAN said:

But no, they're worse than 6 year olds.

What if this idiot would not be allowed to have a gun?

Then like the tens of thousands of others this little boy would still be alive.

Tremolina said:

yup

filha da puta!!!

you know there is a church where you can bring your gun in?

ehuffnsd said:

what in the hell?

I love how they make it seem like a fight over a watermelon started all this lol ...The guy was already screwed up in the head, it had zero to do with a watermelon. It could have been changing the channel on the tv, or drinking the last of the milk, or laughing too loudly...this guy was gonna snap no matter what.

ZombieKitten said:

only in America

ehuffnsd said:

Only if it's unloaded, though...and they have security guards there to check. And I think it's only a one-time thing, as a poltical statement.

That is, if we're talking about the same church

Byron said:

we are and Keith Olberman just made a comment about Jesus talking about turning swords in plowshares or something like that.

Tremolina said:

When you shoot someone over a f*cking piece of fruit, you are one unstable & crazy MoFo. If he didn't have a gun, then he'd probably have hacked them to pieces with a machete or something.

ehuffnsd said:

Hey, there could be other churches where they put bullets in the collection plate ...

PurpleJedi said:

Yep ...I doubt that not having access to a gun would have stopped him from becoming violent. It only means another weapon would have been used...

ehuffnsd said:

That's both from one of the prophets Isaiah and their contemporary Micah.

Not that I disagree with Olberman's position here at all, but elsewhere God, through Joel, decreed an instance of the opposite. (Joel 3:10)

There's a time for conflict as well as peace. The real issue, I suppose, is figuring out what time it is... or rather why we insist on setting the clock, when so many of us claim to believe that's God's job.

...Steering back to the topic at hand, this time was certainly not the time.
[Edited 6/9/09 12:12pm]

Tremolina said:

He has a right to a gun.
No one declared him too unstable to own one, nor, apparently was he ever a felon, thus he owns a gun.

This is like the story that was in the paper here recently where 2 men got into an argument over a TREE,and one ended up dead. Crazy ass people

EmeraldSkies said:

or a classmate of mine

An apprentice shearer who murdered two people on a shooting spree after he'd been teased about his sexual performance, was jailed today for at least 18 years and nine months.

The then 20-year-old Geoffrey Ian Websdale told police two women had teased him, calling him 2-stroke for his tendency to ejaculate prematurely.

Under truth in sentencing laws, Websdale, 30, asked the New South Wales Supreme Court n Sydney to set a minimum and maximum term for the life sentence imposed on him in 1990.



had that rifle not been so handy, it wouldn't have happened. I used to like like him back in school

ZombieKitten said:

Damn

ZombieKitten said:

DAMN... at least you never had to experience his wack-ass 2 strokes

CalhounSq said:

but on a serious note, he accused our drama teacher of molesting him - that was never proven and the teacher was never charged, yet he could never teach again. This guy was one messed up kid

This is a joke, right?

Byron said:

Oh so now we argue that tens of thousands of little children have to remain at risk of being shot based on "bets" and assumptions?

Like he would have defintly hacked him to death with an axe, because yeah... "I bet" he was that crazy.

Wow...


Not even the lifes of countless of innocent people matter to this idiotic idea of giving anybody the right to carry guns.

The Right to Bear Arms!

Paraphrase Magneto, "You (Americans) and your guns..."

Seriously, you just do not see this shit in countries that don't have the gun culture the U.S. has. How is it even sane to declare owning a weapon a right?

Tremolina said:

No that idiot would have just strangled that kid or sliced him open with a blade.

Happens all the time. That poor child was doomed

paintedlady said:

Are you a fortune teller?


Did you know that statistically the US has BY FAR the largest amount of gun deaths per capita in the entire world?
Why do you think that is?

And for that, what about all the not tens, not hundreds, but millions of children in the US who remain at risk of getting shot at the home, either because of accidents or because of parents gone mad.

Do they really need to stay at risk?

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[Edited 6/9/09 9:06am]