Suspect Had June 15 Court Date

Three Fridays ago, Shannon Lawrence told the that she feared for her safety.

Christopher Erdman, the father of her two children, refused to comply with a March 2 protective order that prevented him from harrassing and abusing her.

He "continually" fired off "threatening" and "intimidating" emails and texts to the Canton woman, her attorney alleged in a May 13 motion for contempt.

"This conduct has caused great concern and fear for the Defendant," the attorney, Michael McLaughlin, wrote.

Erdman, 25, was ordered to appear before Cherokee County Superior Court Judge Anthony Baker on June 15 to respond to the allegations and others.

Now the Cumming man will appear before a Fulton County judge for another reason: Erdman is suspected of .

Milton police responded to a call at 2:02 p.m. Sunday of shots being fired at the Birmingham Crossroads shopping center, Capt. Shawn McCarty said. When they arrived, they found shell casings in the parking lot along with a pool of blood.

McCarty said Erdman and Lawrence, who never married, used the shopping center as the drop-off point when exchanging their two children, Emma Catherine Marie Erdman and Peter Issac Erdman. Emma turns three on June 25. Peter turns one on Thursday.

Milton spokesman Jason Wright said this morning that the children witnessed their father shoot Lawrence four times in the face and neck in the parking lot of the mostly empty shopping center, 15780 Birmingham Hwy. The location of the children is unknown.

An April 1 temporary consent order stipulates that the exchange is to take place at a Publix parking lot, not the more secluded Wells Fargo lot.

Lawrence's mother, Diana Macksey, told WSB-TV that Erdman changed the location at the last minute. That wasn't the only violation of the April 1 order, McLaughlin wrote on May 13.

Erdman's parents were to supervise his visits with the children. And Erdman was ordered to pay Lawrence $515 a month for child support.

"Plaintiff has willfully failed and refused to abide by said paragraph and has been visiting with the parties' children without the supervision of his mother and/or father," McLaughlin wrote. "Plaintiff has willfully failed and refused to pay child support to the Defendant and is in arrears. This has caused a financial hardship on the Defendant."

Lawrence, through her attorney, asked the court to suspend Erdman's visitation privileges, jail him and impose any other sanctions.

After the shooting, Erdman reportedly drove Lawrence to in Cumming. By the time police arrived, she was dead.

Erdman was arrested and later , where he remains without bail.

He faces a number of charges: murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with a weapon, cruelty to children, tampering with evidence and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony.

Lawrence's attorney, Michael McLaughlin, declined comment this morning. Rachel Platt, who was Erdman's attorney until March, could not be reached.

Stay tuned to canton-ga.patch.com, alpharetta.patch.com and cumming.patch.com for updates on this breaking news story.