Posted on April 10, 2012

Court Records Show Race May Be Motive in Shooting Rampage

WSBTV (Atlanta), April 9, 2012

Channel 2 Action News has learned new information about a possible motive in a deadly midtown shooting from last summer.

Police said a woman was killed and two others injured when a security guard went on a shooting rampage in a parking lot. Channel 2’s Dave Huddleston obtained the 43-page lawsuit from the case that was filed in state court April 5. The documents show that race may have played a role in the shootings.

The sound of gunfire echoed off midtown buildings July 15. When it was over, marketing executive Brittany Watts had been shot in the neck and killed. Police said the shooter, security guard Nkosi Thadiwe, took off in Watts’ car and fired a gun, randomly shooting two more — Lauren Garcia, who was paralyzed, and Tiffany Ferenczy.

Nkosi Thadiwe

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They [plaintiffs] said Thandiwe demonstrated an intensely negative attitude toward another race, which was unnamed. About a month prior to the shooting, Thandiwe had an altercation with a visitor with the parking garage.

Documents state he assailed a visiting courier with racial epithets and had to be physically restrained by company personnel from striking and causing harm to visitors.

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