Georgia college professor fatally shoots 18-year-old student sitting in car, police say

A Georgia college professor has been charged with fatally shooting an 18-year-old female student while she sat in a car.

RichardSigman, 47, was arrested on charges including murder and aggravated assault in the shooting death of Anna Jones, according to the Carrollton Police Department.

According to a news release from police, Jones was killed when Sigman shot into a parked car following an argument with a man at a pizza restaurant.  The shooting took place shortly after midnight Saturday in the city about 45 miles southwest of Atlanta.

According to a preliminary investigation, police said a man a told security that Sigman threatened to shoot him during an argument, so security asked Sigman to leave.

When Sigman left, detectives said, he walked to the parking deck of a nearby courthouse and started shooting into a parked vehicle there, striking Jones who was inside.

Jones, of Carrollton, was driven by friends to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, police said.

No one else in the vehicle was injured.

Sigman and Jones did not know each other, police Sgt. Meredith Hoyle Browning told USA TODAY Monday, but Jones attended the school where Sigman taught.

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The University of West Georgia spokesman Samuel Gentry confirmed to USA TODAY that Sigman was fired Saturday. He had been employed at the school since 2012, Gentry said, and his title at the time of his termination was a lecturer in business administration.

“On behalf of the university, we wish to convey our deepest condolences to Anna’s family and many friends,” Dr. Brendan Kelly, UWG’s president, wrote in a statement shared with USA TODAY. “We know this news is difficult to process and affects many members of our university community.”