Buckhead Executive's Shooting: Investigation Continuing

ATLANTA, GA — Atlanta Police said Tuesday they are continuing to investigate the fatal shooting of a prominent Buckhead executive, particularly in light of recent statements from a family spokesman that said the shooting was accidental.

Diane McIver was shot on late on Sunday, Sept. 25, in an SUV near Midtown. She died early the next morning from her injuries. Several days later, a spokesman for her husband, Claud "Tex" McIver, said the Buckhead couple were returning from their Putnam County farm that night when their driver got lost in the area and made several wrong turns.

The spokesman, Bill Crane, said Claud McIver became worried about a possible carjacking and retrieved a gun from the SUV's center console. Crane said that as McIver, who was sitting in the back seat, was removing the gun from a plastic bag, the gun discharged, striking his wife, sitting in front of him, in the back.

• See also: Buckhead Executive Accidentally Shot By Husband: Report

On Tuesday, Atlanta Police Sgt. Warren Pickard told the AJC that said Crane “wasn’t in the car, so he is not a witness to what happened. We are going to wait and see what all the witnesses have to say.” Pickard did not comment any further on Crane's statements or who else police are interviewing.

An autopsy report issued by the Fulton County Medical Examiner on Thursday listed Diane McIver's cause of death as a homicide.

• See also: Buckhead Executive's Shooting Death Ruled a Homicide

Diane McIver served as president of Corey Airport Services, an Atlanta-based marketing company whose logo adorns a smokestack-like structure on the downtown connector. Her husband is an attorney with Fisher & Phillips, whose only comments on the incident have been condolences to the family.

“Our deepest condolences go out to Tex and his family," the firm said. "This is an unthinkable tragedy for a wonderful couple, both of them distinguished members of the Atlanta business community. Diane McIver was a wonderful wife and a successful executive who will be greatly missed by everyone whose life she touched. Tex McIver is a respected law partner with deep community ties. Our thoughts and prayers are with him.”

Crane said the McIvers' driver made a detour into Midtown to avoid a Downtown Connector traffic jam. The driver got lost after making a wrong turn off Edgewood Avenue, and finally reached Piedmont Avenue around 12th Street. Crane said McIver saw some pedestrians nearby who he believed were threatening. That's when McIver -- who was in the back seat -- reached for a gun that he kept in the front seat console between the driver and passenger seats.

• See also: Shooting Victim Identified As Prominent Buckhead Executive
• See also: Woman, Shot Killed in Car Near Piedmont Park

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