Georgia AG requests federal probe in handling of Arbery case
Georgia’s attorney general has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the handling of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s attorney general on Sunday asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the handling of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who authorities say died at the hands of two white men as he ran through a neighborhood.
Arbery was shot and killed Feb. 23. No arrests were made until this month after national outrage over the case swelled when video surfaced that appeared to show the shooting.
“We are committed to a complete and transparent review of how the Ahmaud Arbery case was handled from the outset,” Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement. “The family, the community and the state of Georgia deserve answers, and we will work with others in law enforcement at the state and federal level to find those answers.”
Attorneys for Arbery’s mother and father applauded Carr for reaching out to federal officials.
“We have requested the involvement of the DOJ since we first took this case,” attorneys S. Lee Merritt, Benjamin Crump and L. Chris Stewart said in a statement. “There are far too many questions about how this case was handled and why it took 74 days for two of the killers to be arrested and charged in Mr. Arbery’s death.”
Last week, a Justice Department spokesman said the FBI is assisting in the investigation and the DOJ would assist if a federal crime is uncovered.
Shortly after the video’s leak, Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault. The arrests came hours after officials asked the GBI to start investigating. The inquiry was previously in the hands of local officials.
The father and son said they thought Arbery matched the appearance of a burglary suspect who they said had been recorded on a surveillance camera some time before.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her 25-year-old son, a former high school football player, was just jogging in the neighborhood before he was killed.
On Saturday, that it has obtained other photos of video that might shed light on the case. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published footage from a surveillance camera at a Brunswick home near where Arbery was shot that shows someone who appears to be Arbery walking into a home under construction. Arbery then came back out and ran down the street. Someone else comes out across the street from the construction site, and then a vehicle drives off farther down the street, near where Travis McMichael lives.
Lawyers for Arbery’s family say the video bolsters their position that Arbery did nothing wrong, and shows he did not commit a felony. Under Georgia law, someone who isn’t a sworn police officer can arrest and detain another person only if a felony is committed in the presence of the arresting citizen.
“Ahmaud’s actions at this empty home under construction were in no way a felony under Georgia law,” the lawyers “This video confirms that Mr. Arbery’s murder was not justified and the actions of the men who pursued him and ambushed him were unjustified.”
The social justice arm of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation entertainment company on Sunday called on Georgia officials to in the case.
Also Sunday, Georgia authorities said they had arrested a 20-year-old man after investigating an online threat against people protesting the killing of Arbery.
Several hundred people had protested the case Friday in Brunswick, near the site where Arbery was fatally shot.
The GBI said state police arrested Rashawn Smith and charged him with dissemination of information relating to terroristic acts. He was taken into custody in Midway, a town about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Brunswick.
Earlier in the day, the GBI said it had “been made aware of a Facebook post that contains a threat to future protests related to Ahmaud Arbery.”
Investigators later said they believe the threat was a hoax.
“Smith created a Facebook User ID of an unwitting individual to post a hoax threat,” the GBI .
It was not immediately clear if Smith has an attorney who could comment on t
PICTURED: Gunman, 29, found dead after killing man, 86, and his wife, 85, at Delaware veterans cemetery
Why in the world does a Family Dollar—where almost every product is $1—need a security guard? What does this say about the clientele? What does this say about the community this store serves?
Everything.
Flint, Michigan is 54 percent black and 37 percent white.
Shot.
(TNS) — Tamara Liberty Smith of Detroit says her social media feed reflects the deadly impact of the coronavirus in Michigan’s largest city, one that also has the most black residents.“I’ve never experienced anything in my life where my social media timeline looks like an obituary,” said Smith, a lifelong Detroiter who ran a failed bid for Detroit City Council in 2017. “You cannot scroll … not knowing someone who has been attacked by the virus or who has experienced death from the virus.”The pandemic has shed light on the disproportionately high number of deaths in the black community, especially in Detroit where nearly 80 percent of the population is black. Detroit has seen the highest number of cases and deaths due to coronavirus, with 922 deaths as of Sunday.Statewide, 32 percent of all confirmed coronavirus cases in Michigan involved black patients, yet they make up about 13.6 percent of the state’s 10 million people. More than 40 percent of all coronavirus deaths in the state are African Americans.Underlying health issues within the black community, poverty that restricts access to medical care, crowded living situations and a general lack of trust in the health system are some of the theories put forth for the high rate of COVID-19 among people who are black.Smith lives in west Detroit on the border of the 48235 ZIP code, an area hardest hit by the virus hit, based on city health data.She called it “baffling” that Detroit has been impacted so harshly, since “a lot of the Detroiters are not travelers; they’re stationary.”“From my perception, this was brought into our city and the people are contracting it,” she said. “How? That part I’m still wondering (about) … A lot of Detroiters don’t even leave the city, let along the country, and the virus is running rampant.Other than some youth who feel impervious to the virus, Smith said most people she knows are practicing social distancing and isolation in line with the governor’s orders.State Rep. Tyrone Carter, a coronavirus survivor, points across a busy street from his front porch to a field on the outskirts of Detroit.“There used to be a hospital there,” he says.Carter said a lack of access to quality, affordable health care in the black community is one of many reasons the coronavirus has killed a disproportionately high number of black people in Michigan and Detroit.
Chaser.
Michigan security guard killed at Family Dollar store after asking customer to wear mask, KTLA.com, May 3, 2020]:A security guard at a Family Dollar store in Flint, Michigan, was shot and killed after telling a customer to wear a state-mandated face mask, police said.Calvin Munerlyn, 43, died at a local hospital after he was shot in the head Friday, said Michigan State Police Lt. David Kaiser.The shooter and a second suspect remain at large, Kaiser told CNN on Monday.Witnesses at the store told police that Munerlyn got into a verbal altercation with a woman because she was not wearing a mask, said Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton. Surveillance video confirms the incident, Leyton said.Under an executive order from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, all retail employees and customers have to wear a mask.Footage also shows that immediately after the altercation, the woman left in an SUV.
But about 20 minutes later, the SUV returned.Two men entered the store and one of them yelled at Munerlyn about disrespecting his wife, Leyton said. The other man then shot the security guard.“This is senseless. Over a mask. Over a mask?” Munerlyn’s cousin, Tina James, told CNN affiliate WJRT. “This is not the way to do things right now. We need to come together.”Family Dollar did not respond to a request for comment.
Calvin Munerlyn was a black male who was employed at the Family Dollar in Flint, Michigan to provide security at a store where nearly every product is $1. The city of Flint is 54 percent black (63 percent nonwhite), and Mr. Munerlyn asked a black customer of the Family Dollar where he provided security to put on a mask to stop the potential spread of Coronavirus. She refused and came back with two black males. They participated in his murder, invalidating the claim Black Lives Matter and that white people are somehow responsible for black deaths during the Coronavirus.
45-year-old Sharmel Teague, 44-year-old Larry Edward Teague Jr., and 23-year-old Ramonyea Bishop were all arrested for his murder. They are all black.
Why are blacks dying disproportionately of the Coronavirus across the United States? Why do black engage in a disproportionate amount of violent (both as victim and suspect) in violent crime across America? The answer to both questions is what great men like Carleton Putnam dared to address during his life on this planet, so that his posterity would live free of the insanity of egalitarian thinking.
I’m sorry this happened to you, Calvin Munerlyn.
But in what type of community does a Family Dollar need a security guard? The question answers itself.
- The couple were at Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Bear on Friday morning when they were shot; their names have not yet been released
- The wife was pronounced dead at the scene; her husband died in hospital
- Police later identified the shooter as Sheldon C. Francis, 29, of Middletown
- He was found dead from a gunshot wound a few hours later in the wooded area
- It is not yet known if the gunman knew his victims
An 85-year-old woman and her husband, 86, were both killed in a shooting at a veterans cemetery in Delaware on Friday morning.
Delaware State Police on Friday night identified the victims as a married couple from Elkton, Maryland.
Police say they later discovered the 29-year-old suspect, named as Sheldon C. Francis, dead from a gunshot wound a few hours later in a wooded area.
It is not known if the gunman knew his victims.
Police say they later discovered the 29-year-old suspect, named as Sheldon C. Francis, pictured, dead from a gunshot wound a few hours later in a wooded area
aw enforcement set up a perimeter and search vehicles at an active shooter situation near the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Bear on Friday
Vehicles are seen stopped at a roadblock, Friday, in Bear, Del. Delaware State Police were responding Friday to a report of shots being fired at Delaware's Veterans Memorial Cemetery, according to a police statement
A police spokesman said Sunday: 'Francis was located deceased at approximately 4:00 p.m., on the date of the incident, in a wooded area located just off of Brennan Blvd., in the development of Brennan Estates, which is adjacent to the grounds of the cemetery.
'This wooded area was where an exchange of gunfire between Francis and officers on scene had taken place at approximately 12:08 p.m. Upon being located Francis was confirmed to have sustained a gunshot wound.
'It is undetermined at this time if the wound was self-inflicted or as a result of the exchange of gunfire.'
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The elderly couple were at Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Bear, pictured
Authorities had used a reverse 911 system to warn area residents that there was an active shooter and that they should shelter in place
The elderly couple were at Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Bear on Friday morning when they were shot. Their names have not yet been released.
After a shootout with officers, the suspect fled into nearby woods, said Senior Corporal Heather Pepper, a state police spokeswoman.
Authorities had used a reverse 911 system to warn area residents that there was an active shooter and that they should shelter in place. Some of the residents were evacuated as officers hunted for the suspect.
The wife was pronounced dead at the scene. The husband was taken to the hospital in a critical condition.
. Some of the residents were evacuated as officers hunted for the suspect
The suspect was found dead from a gunshot wound a few hours later in a wooded area
Gov. John Carney said: 'To think of a situation like that on that facility is just heartbreaking...the final resting place of the men and women who served our country.'
It was not immediately clear whether the suspect shot himself or was hit by police in the earlier exchange of gunfire, police said.
No officers were injured in the shooting.
The state-owned cemetery is overseen by the Office of Veterans Services, a division of the Delaware Department of State.
Man, 43, is charged with murdering his former neighbor after he allegedly terrorized the father-of-four for months and eventually forced the family to move
- Jamal Thomas, 43, charged in the brutal murder of 44-year-old Miles Armstead in Oakland
- Thomas, who was jailed for ‘terrorizing’ his neighbor Armstead, has now been accused of murdering him just weeks after being released from custody
- Armstead was allegedly shot dead by his former neighbor Thomas outside of his home on the 7500 block of Ney Avenue on May 1
- Hours later, Oakland police arrested Thomas, who is believed to be homeless having recently been evicted from the home next door to Armstead’s
- Alameda County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said Thomas had previously been arrested for making ‘terrorist threats’ against Armstead
- Authorities and neighbors say he repeatedly vandalized the victim’s home, including an incident as recently as April 6, where Thomas threw a brick at him
- The victim has recently boarded up his windows, moved his family out of the home and listed it for sale over concerns for their safety
A California man who was jailed for ‘terrorizing’ his neighbor has been charged with killing him just two months after his release.
Miles Armstead, 44, had been doing yard work outside of his home on the 7500 block of Ney Avenue in Oakland on May 1, when his former neighbor, Jamal Thomas, 43, allegedly shot him in the back of the head.
‘He pulled a gun, Miles saw the gun, he turned around, got shot in the back of the head, hit the ground, he shot him a bunch of times,’ a witness, who did not wish to be identified, told KTVU.
Hours later, Oakland police arrested Thomas, who is believed to be homeless having recently been evicted from the home next door to Armstead’s.
Thomas was charged on Friday with eight felonies, including murder and assault with a deadly weapon, according to The Mercury News.
Miles Armstead (left), 44, had been doing yard work outside of his home on the 7500 block of Ney Avenue in Oakland on Friday, when his former neighbor, Jamal Thomas (right), 43, allegedly shot him in the back of the head
Armstead recently moved into the home on 76th and Ney with his pregnant second wife, Melina, and his three children, neighbor Louella Robinson said
Alameda County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said Thomas had previously been arrested for making ‘terrorist threats’ against Armstead and threatening to burn down his home.
Thomas was released from police custody on February 28.
Authorities and neighbors say he repeatedly vandalized the victim’s home in the weeks after, including an incident as recently as April 6, where Thomas is said to have thrown a brick through Armstead's window, narrowly missing him.
Oakland police issued a warrant for Thomas' arrest in connection with the incident.
But he was not detained until after Armstead's murder.
‘He kept calling the police, calling the police, and then Jamal lays low, and then he comes back, soon as you let your guard down he attacks again,’ the anonymous witness told KTVU.
Armstead recently moved into the home on 76th and Ney with his pregnant second wife, Melina, and his three children, neighbor Louella Robinson told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Thomas, meanwhile, had been living on Ney Avenue for over 20 years before he was reportedly evicted. The circumstances of his apparent eviction were not immediately clear.
‘They had a little thing going between them,’ she said about the two men. ‘We don’t know what it was. Some kind of way I guess they fell out.’
Alameda County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said Thomas had previously been arrested for making ‘terrorist threats’ against Armstead (above), threatening to burn down his home, however he was released on February 28
Armstead recently moved into the home on 76th and Ney with his pregnant second wife, Melina (left), and his three children
Cards, flowers and candles lay out front of the home where Miles was killed in tribute
Robinson said she had witnessed Thomas throw rocks through the windows of Armstead’s house, shattering the glass.
The victim has recently boarded up his windows, listed the home for sale and moved his family out over concerns for their safety. He had been delivering materials to construction workers carrying out renovations when he was killed.
‘He and his wife, they had to get away from that house,’ Robinson told the Chronicle.
According to a GoFundMe page set up by his friend Jennifer Shallat, Armstead worked as a wealth manager at Fremont Bank. He was also a dedicated soccer coach for his three children and had been expecting a fourth child, a baby girl, with his Melina in August.
‘Miles has always wanted the best for his children as well and has worked hard to provide for them,’ Shallat wrote. ‘It was his dream that they would all have a good life, and he was integral in making that happen.’
Alameda County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said Thomas had previously been arrested for making ‘terrorist threats’ against Armstead, threatening to burn down his home, however he was released on February 28
Robinson, meanwhile, had been inside when she heard the unmistakable clapping of gunfire outside of her home on Friday.
By the time she ran outside, the suspect had disappeared.
She said both she and her fellow neighbors were stunned to learn that it was reportedly Thomas who pulled the trigger.
‘Thomas was a good kid, coming up and everything — that’s why everybody’s kind of in a state of shock,’ Robinson said. ‘We [are] still kind of wondering what happened between them two.’
Tributes to doting father Miles Armstead have flooded onto social media since news of his death became public.
‘There are no words that can express the deep void in my soul. Never would I have imagined that I would be parted from you so soon,’ his wife Melina wrote on Facebook. ‘Your laughter brought me joy, your strength brought me comfort, your love for others made me love you more than I ever thought humanly possible.
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‘You worked so hard always but especially in this last month to remove our family from our home which no longer was safe,’ she continued. ‘Relentless, day and night you worked; because of this we are safe, but now you are physically gone and the ache in my heart is unfathomable.’
Friend Lauren Deane wrote: 'The happiest guy in the room is no longer with us and I am deeply pained by the loss. Miles Armstead was the embodiment of love and light.
'Miles, I’ll miss your smiles. My heart breaks for his wife Melina, their children, and all of his family and friends.'
Tributes to doting father Armstead have flooded onto social media since news of his death became public
Melina and Miles were expecting a baby girl together in August, family members revealed
Friend Lauren Deane wrote: ''The happiest guy in the room is no longer with us and I am deeply pained by the loss. Miles Armstead was the embodiment of love and light. 'Miles, I’ll miss your smiles. My heart breaks for his wife Melina, their children, and all of his family and friends'
Kelly said law enforcement did all they could in the long-running saga between Thomas and Armstead by making the first arrest and issuing a warrant for the second.
However, the sergeant said the judicial system missed an opportunity ‘to keep this gentleman in custody’, criticizing the state for putting too many criminals back on the street.
California’s Judicial Council enacted emergency powers in mid-April to set bail at zero in misdemeanor and low-level felony cases to prevent the spread of coronavirus in jails.
If Thomas had been arrested for the brick incident - which carried charges of misdemeanor vandalism and felony assault with the potential to cause great bodily injury — in early April, ‘he would’ve been out of jail in six or seven hours,’ Kelly told the Chronicle.
‘I think this victim would still be alive if Mr. Thomas was held on his previous charges,’ Kelly said. ‘It’s heartbreaking that this gentleman lost his life. I mean, how many more red flags do you need?’
Serial groper', 26, is arrested after 'molesting eight random women including six who were assaulted in just over one hour' in New York City
- Kevin Jenkins, 26, an alleged serial groper in Brooklyn, was arrested this weekend and charged with molesting eight women
- Jenkins, who lives in Brooklyn's Bedford Stuyvesant section, is alleged to have assaulted six of victis on May 7, between 9:55 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.
- The victims ranged in age from 16 to 40, and none were injured, although two were alleged to have been thrown to the ground after they were groped
- Jenkins faces multiple charges for sexual abuse and forcible touching, according to the NYPD
A Brooklyn man has been arrested and charged with molesting eight women, including six who were attacked in just over an hour, the NYPD says.
Alleged groper Kevin Jenkins, 26, of Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant section was arrested Saturday.
Police, who released surveillance video of the suspect, say the first assault was believed to have happened on April 28 and was followed by another on May 1.
Six more alleged attacks took place on Friday, between 9:55 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.
Scroll down for video
Kevin Jenkins, a 26-year-old serial groper, was arrested and charged this weekend with molesting eight women. The suspect was caught in video footage (pictured) released by cops
Footage released by the NYPD shows a man cops say is Kevin Jenkins walking behind one of the alleged victims
In the footage, the suspect is seen closing in on the victim, whose image is blurred
The victims ranged in age from 16 to 40, police say.
None of the victims were injured, although two were alleged to have been thrown to the ground, the New York Post reports.
Jenkins faces multiple charges for sexual abuse and forcible touching.
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The Friday assaults began with Jenkins allegedly trying to lift the skirt of a 23-year-old woman on Flushing Avenue near Nostrand Avenue in South Williamsburg, the Daily News reports.
Then near Myrtle and Bedford Avenues, the suspect is alleged to have grabbed a 21-year-old woman by the private parts before fleeing.
Another assault seven minutes later involved a 16-year-old girl near Spencer Street and Willoughby Avenue. Jenkins is alleged to have come up to the victim from behind, throwing the girl to the ground and pressing her face against his private areas before leaving.
Another video released by the NYPD shows a man in a hoodie cops say is the suspected groper
In the footage, the suspect whom cops identified as Jenkins is seen walking off
The assaults then continued through the morning.
Jenkins is alleged to have groped a 34-year-old woman from behind on Myrtle Avenue near Sanford Street, and pressing his body against a 30-year-old victim on Vernon Avenue near Marcy Avenue.
One last victim was alleged to have been assaulted on Pulsaki Street near Nostrand Avenue, where he is alleged to have grabbed a 32-year-old woman around the neck and shoulders from behind.
Police said he allegedly pressed himself against her, then threw her to the ground and ran off as she began to scream.
Police say the attacks began April 28, when Jenkins allegedly grabbed a 28-year-old woman's buttocks on Lafayette Avenue in Clinton Hill just before 4 p.m.
A second alleged assault came on May 1, police say.
That's when Jenkins is alleged to have groped a 40-year-old victim on Fort Greene Place in Brooklyn's Fort Greene section.
The Daily News reports that was found and detained in Coram, Suffolk County, Friday night, and that he was brought to Brooklyn to face charges the next day.
Earlier by Paul Kersey: Congratulations, SPLC, Tim Wise—Atlanta Black Gunman Nkosi Thandiwe Says He Shot Three White Girls Because Of Anti-White Lessons He Learned In College
There’s been very few days in the past nine years where I didn’t think of Brittney Watts and what happened to her in Atlanta, Georgia. She was murdered for being white. Two other white females were shot on the fateful day she was murdered, but they survived their bullet wounds.
But it’s Brittney Watts who symbolizes so much, because she was the only one of three white females who were hunted down by a black male and shot for their “white privilege,” to die from injuries suffered in this racial terrorist attack.
And that’s what it was: a black racial terror attack on three white women in Atlanta.
Defendant admits fatally wounding woman in Atlanta, Associated Press, January 30, 2013
The man charged with shooting a 26-year-old woman to death in an Atlanta parking deck and wounding two others relived the July 2011 incident in court Wednesday, saying it was like an out-of-body experience.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://bit.ly/UDoQ7b ) reports that former security guard 23-year-old Nkosi Thandiwe recounted details of the shooting during the second day of his trial.Thandiwe has pleaded not guilty to murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and weapons offenses in the shooting that left 26-year-old Brittany Watts dead, Lauren Garcia paralyzed and a third woman wounded in her leg. In court he recalled absent-mindedly drawing his weapon on Watts and shooting her before fleeing the scene in her car.“It was almost like watching myself in action,” Thandiwe said in court, “I tell her to get out of (her) car. She screams. I fire. She drops to the ground.”Police have not disclosed a motive, but during his testimony Thandiwe said the shooting may have stemmed from beliefs he held about white people as an anthropology major in college.“I was trying to prove a point that Europeans had colonized the world, and as a result of that, we see a lot of evil today,” he said. “In terms of slavery, it was something that needed to be answered for. I was trying to spread the message of making white people mend.”The night before the shooting, Thandiwe said he attended a gathering to discuss helping black people find equal footing and was upset that two white people were also there. The lingering anger caused him to bring his gun with him to work the next day, he said.
No, this black criminal in Brunswick, Georgia wasn’t “hunted.” But Brittney Watts was hunted down in Atlanta back in 2011 (as were two other white females) by a black racial terrorist.
Have you ever heard the name Nkosi Thandiwe before? He was a black racial terrorist who targeted three white women in Atlanta, Georgia in 2011, killing Brittney Watts and wounding two others.
As the ridiculous hoax in Brunswick, Georgia surrounding some black criminal/thief turned jogger collapses, the reality of what happened to Brittney Watts echoes throughout the years as a reminder of the true source of hate in Georgia and how the concept of white privilege ends.
Midtown shooter gets life plus 65 years in prison, AJC.com, January 31, 2013The man convicted of murdering a woman and wounding two others in a 2011 Midtown shooting spree was sentenced to life without parole plus 65 years in prison Thursday.“This I do find to be by the nature of the act of on July 15, 2011, to be very random, very hate-filled, very heinous, very vile,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kelly A. Lee said as she handed Nkosi Thandiwe his life sentence for killing Brittney Watts, and injuring Tiffany Ferenczy and Lauren Garcia, leaving Garcia paralyzed from the waist down.The 23-year-old Thandiwe sat stone-faced as Lee made her ruling. Victims’ families released a collective sigh, while those in court to support him dropped their heads.Before Lee gave her sentence, Brittney Watts’ husband struggled through tears to ask the judge for the maximum sentence for Thandiwe.“I’ve mourned Brittney for the last 568 days,” he said. “I realize the worst day of my life is in my past … But I also realize the best days of my life are, too.”Brian Watts brushed told the judge and jury how only a month before his wife’s death, the couple moved back to Atlanta from Tampa and into his wife’s dream house with the plans of starting a family.“He took everything from me … my soulmate, the family we were going to have,” Brian Watts said. He said he found himself looking forward “to the day that I die so that I can be with Brittney again.”Thandiwe’s mother, Lynnae Thandiwe, pleaded with the judge for mercy.“He’s not the ‘Midtown Shooter,’” she said. “He’s not a monster. It’s not consistent with who Nkosi is. Nothing can be gained by putting him in jail for the rest of his life.”Thandiwe, 23, was accused of fatally shooting Watts in the neck in a Midtown parking deck as she left her office for lunch, then taking her car, apparently hitting her body as he pulled away, and firing into a crowd of women that included Garcia and Ferenczy walking along Crescent Street as he sped off.“He told you he shot Brittney Watts, Lauren Garcia and Tiffany Ferenczy because he had adopted all these racist ideals,” Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Linda Dunikoski said to the jury, referring to Thandiwe’s testimony on Wednesday. “If race disorder was a [mental illness], then the Ku Klux Klan could murder and kill with impunity.”Public defender Wes Bryant borrowed from the prosecutor’s opening statement to suggest that Thandiwe may have been out of his mind when he shot the women.The jury took about 30 minutes to find him guilty of all the counts against him and the sentencing phase of the trial began immediately. He was charged with murder, felony murder – causing a death during the commission of a felony – several counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, carjacking and gun offenses.Thandiwe’s two surviving victims then added to Brian Watts’ description the shooting spree’s impact.“I remember feeling the bullet hit my back,” Garcia said. “I remember the moment between feeling my legs and the stark contrast that followed.”The UGA grad said she went through months of painful rehabilitation, learning to function as a paraplegic. And she married her then-boyfriend soon after the shooting.She now works full-time for the Midtown advertising agency she was interning with when she was shot, but says private moments of sorrow still lie deep beneath the picture of resilience so many of her loved ones and supporters celebrate.“I am a victim of a meaningless crime who has a grim outlook on life and her very best days behind her,” Garcia said.Ferenczy, who was shot in the leg, told the judge she was plagued by nightmares of that day.“I wake up every night with flashbacks,” she said before lamenting how seemingly thoughtlessly Thandiwe took Watts’ life. “Her life should’ve been valued. My life should’ve been valued. Lauren’s life should’ve been valued.”Despite descriptions of Thandiwe’s life as extraordinary and kind young man, and pleas from friends and loved ones that he be given a chance to rehabilitate, Lee sided with her reservations that he could change.“I do have concerns that on any given day in the future he could have another relapse,” she said. “And I’m concerned about his lack of remorse.”
Brian and Brittney Watts would have had two or three children by now, had Thandiwe’s racial hatred of whites not compelled him to target three white women for execution back in 2011.
But that’s what happened in Atlanta back in July of 2011: a black man, who hated white people and white privilege, targeted three white women for execution and murdered Brittney Watts.
But that’s what happened in Atlanta back in July of 2011: a black man, who hated white people and white privilege, targeted three white women for execution and murdered Brittney Watts.
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