ATLANTA — Prosecutors are revealing new details about how they secured the conviction of a woman responsible for a deadly midtown Atlanta shooting spree that left two people dead and another injured.
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For the first time, newly released video shows how close Raissa Kengne allegedly came to claiming a third victim after the August 2022 attacks.
Kengne was convicted after a week-long trial in which prosecutors argued she carried out a calculated campaign of revenge against former colleagues. Her defense attorney argued that she was legally insane at the time of the shootings.
“She was smart, had a master’s degree and came from a privileged background and had no documented mental illness history before that day, but she snapped,” defense attorney Dwight Thomas said.
The case forever changed the life of Alicia Freeman, whose husband, Wesley Freeman, was one of the victims.
“He had just texted me like 30 minutes before, saying he wanted to go home,” Freeman recalled.
Freeman said she immediately suspected Kengne when she learned her husband had been shot.
“All of a sudden, my mind just flashed to this person that I knew was somehow causing him problems at his job,” she said. “And I knew who it was immediately.”
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Freeman described her husband as someone who transformed her life.
“Wes Freeman was the most spectacular human,” she said. “He loved me so much.”
According to prosecutors, Kengne entered Freeman’s Midtown office on Aug. 22, 2022, and shot him to death. Earlier that day, prosecutors said she fatally shot Michael Shinners at her condominium building and wounded Michael Horne.
“She just looked straight at me, and she fired once,” Horne previously told Channel 2 Action News.
“What was the motive? Revenge,” Fulton County Executive District Attorney Adam Abbate said.
Prosecutors said evidence presented at trial showed Kengne carefully planned her actions. Surveillance video captured her withdrawing $3,000 from a Colony Square ATM moments after killing Freeman. Prosecutors also pointed to her calm demeanor during taxi rides after the shootings.
They argued those actions helped prove that although Kengne suffered from schizophrenia, she understood right from wrong.
That evidence contributed to the jury’s verdict of guilty but mentally ill.
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Following the conviction, Judge Shukura Ingram sentenced Kengne to consecutive life sentences plus 50 years in prison.
Prosecutors said investigators uncovered a hit list containing more than 20 names of people Kengne believed had wronged her.
“What she meant by attacked was people who told her no,” Abbate said.
Among those named was an attorney whose firm declined to represent her in a whistleblower case.
Newly released surveillance video shows Kengne arriving at the attorney’s home after the killings. Prosecutors said she checked the front door before moving to the back of the house and trying multiple entrances while armed.
“She went to his residence with a firearm,” Deputy District Attorney Gautam Rao said.
“To me, it is very clear from this woman’s actions that she was intent on killing him,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said.
Fortunately, prosecutors said the attorney was not home.
Thomas maintained throughout the trial that the central issue was Kengne’s mental state.
“It’s all about why. It is just the why,” he said.
As the legal proceedings come to an end, Alicia Freeman said she continues to lean on faith, family and friends.
“I still try to live every day because I promised him I would live,” she said.
Freeman said she hopes sharing her story can help others facing grief and hardship.
“I pray that God will use me,” she said.
Prosecutors Abbate and Rao said the case was tried in a newly established competency court. They said Kengne was required to take medication while in a mental health facility in order to be deemed legally competent to stand trial.
They said she will continue receiving mental health treatment while serving her sentence in prison.
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