She was shot in the back. The bullet traveled through the seat of an SUV. Medical officials say she died at the hands of another, the victim of homicide.
That’s about all investigators have said about the death of Diane McIver, a prominent Atlanta businesswoman. Who pulled the trigger remains unclear. But she was in an SUV with people she knew.
McIver was shot late Sunday night close to Piedmont Park. She died early Monday in a hospital emergency room.
Since then, the Atlanta Police Department, court officials and the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office continue a probe into the death of the spouse of Claud "Tex" McIver, a noted Atlanta lawyer. They appear to be moving cautiously.
“This is one of those situations we’re working through very slowly,” Sgt. Warren Pickard, a spokesman for the Atlanta Police Department, said Thursday. “We want to get it right.”
Police have not said who owns the SUV, a white 2013 Ford Expedition, nor who else was in it. A police report noted that the shooting took place at 1073 Piedmont Ave. NE in the heart of Midtown. Diane McIver was in the front passenger seat.
Police say there was no 911 call. Officers answered a call about a gunshot victim at 10:40 p.m., according to the police report. They responded to Emory University Hospital on Clifton Road, where they talked to the SUV’s driver.
But the report does not say why the driver took the injured woman to a hospital on Clifton Road, 4 ½ miles away. Piedmont Hospital is about half that distance from the shooting scene.
The medical examiner’s office said McIver died from a gunshot wound to the back, apparently fired through the Expedition’s seat. It did not elaborate.
The Fulton District Attorney's Office declined comment on whether any charges are pending.
McIver also is remaining silent. “I am in mourning,” he wrote in an automatic-message email. He directed inquiries to a colleague at his law firm, Fisher & Phillips LLP.
“Our deepest condolences go out to Tex and his family,” the firm replied in an email. “This is an unthinkable tragedy for a wonderful couple, both of them distinguished members of the Atlanta business community.”
The characterization of the Buckhead couple is apt.
Diane McIver, whom one associate described as “extremely intellectual,” made a successful career as president of Corey Airport Services, an Atlanta-based marketing company.
Her husband, a partner in his firm, is vice president of the Georgia State Election Board. In August, he assumed another seat on another board. The American Bar Association appointed him to the advisory committee of the association's Standing Committee on Gun Violence.
