BBC News Online provides excerpts of the letter left by Mark Barton in the house where he killed his wife and two young children before murdering nine others in downtown Atlanta.
There may be similarities between these deaths and the death of my first wife, Deborah Spivey. However, I did not kill her and her mother. There is no reason for me to lie now.
I'm so sorry. I wish I didn't. Words cannot tell the agony.
Why did I ? I have been dying since October. To wake up at night so afraid, so terrified that I couldn't be that afraid while awake. It has taken its toll. I have come to hate this life in this system of things. I have come to have no hope.
I killed the children to exchange them for five minutes of pain for a lifetime of pain (sic). I forced myself to do it to keep them from suffering so much later. No mother, no father, no relatives.
The fears of the father are transferred to the son. It was from my father to me, and from me to my son. He had already had it, and now to be left alone, I had to take him with me.
I killed Leigh Ann because she was one of the main reasons for my demise ... I really wished I hadn't killed her now. She really couldn't help it, and I love her so much anyway.
I know that Jehovah will take care of all of them in the next life.
I am sure the details don't matter. There is no excuse. No good reason. I am sure no one will understand. If they could, I wouldn_t want them to. I just write these things to say why.
Please know that I love Leigh Ann, Matthew and Mychelle with all my heart. If Jehovah's willing, I would like to see them all again in the resurrection to have a second chance.
I don't plan to live very much longer, just long enough to kill as many of the people that greedily sought my destruction.