Woman slain, man hurt in Atlanta shooting

ATLANTA —  A woman was shot to death by her former boyfriend at CNN’s headquarters Tuesday, police said. The armed man was then wounded by a security guard.

The man and woman were arguing near the main entrance of the downtown complex when the man shot her, Atlanta Police Officer James Polite said.

The woman was pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said.

Her former boyfriend, identified as Arthur Mann, was shot by a CNN security guard. He was listed in stable condition. Police said he would be charged with murder.

The woman was identified as Clara Riddles, 22, of College Park, Ga. She worked at the Omni Hotel attached to the CNN Center stocking honor bars, said Caryn Kboudi, a spokeswoman for the hotel chain.

Kboudi said the hotel did not know whether Riddles was having domestic troubles.

Trina Johnson, 44, of Atlanta was with her daughter on a family outing when the shooting started.

“All of a sudden we heard a big boom,” she said. “We thought it was an explosion. We didn’t see the gun. Everybody just started running.”

Riddles and Mann were seen being carried out of the building on stretchers. Mann’s face was covered in blood and his shirt was off.

CNN said the offices for its Internet operations website were evacuated.

Video footage showed police officers pointing guns at a man lying on the ground at the bottom of an escalator inside the building.

An announcement over the building’s public-address system said there had been gunfire “with potential casualties.”

Police cordoned off an area by the escalators near the main entrance, facing Centennial Olympic Park. The park was the site of a bombing that killed a woman and injured more than 100 people during the 1996 Summer Olympics.

“I heard four or five shots. I really didn’t see it. I got out of there quick,” said Jas Stanford, 27, who had been helping take down a temporary stage in the park used for college basketball’s Final Four festivities.

Besides the Omni Hotel, the CNN complex includes a large atrium and a food court. It is connected to Philips Arena, the home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.

Shortly afterward, CNN coverage of the shooting was being shown on large-screen televisions inside the atrium, near where the shooting took place.