The man accused of killing one woman and wounding two others in a Midtown shooting spree pleaded not guilty to all charges of an 11-count indictment.
Nkosi Thandiwe, 22, was in Fulton County Superior Court Wednesday on charges he fatally shot Brittney Watts around lunchtime on July 15, then wounded two more women with gunfire as he sped away in Watts' car.
One of the surviving victims, Lauren Garcia, was shot in the back and remains paralyzed below her waist. The other, Tiffany Ferenczy, was shot in the calf and returned to work the following week.
Thandiwe is charged with murder, three counts of felony murder, three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, hijacking a car, aggravated battery and gun possession during the commission of a felony. "Felony murder" alleges that a suspect caused a death while committing related felonies -- thus the three separate charges. Prosecutors have asked for a sentence of life imprisonment with no chance of parole.
His case has been postponed four times since the shooting, as Thandiwe changed attorneys, according to attorney John Garland.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kelly A. Lee ordered Thandiwe to undergo a mental evaluation on Dec. 1.
Fulton County assistant district attorney Fani T. Willis told Lee that prosecutors were anxious about the chances of the evaluation actually happening on time, given recent history.
"We just don't want any delays in this matter," Willis said. "It's already been delayed several months."
Watts’ family members were in court Wednesday carrying laminated cards that read “Celebrating the life of Brittney Fox Watts …” and offered a prayer -- “Grant us peace in knowing she is resting safely in your arms.”
Some family members sobbed openly and comforted one another as Lee read Thandiwe’s formal charges.
In anticipation of discovery -- the prosecutors' exchanging of evidence against the defendant with his attorney -- Willis told Garland she had "more than 2,000 pages of files and 28 CDs and DVDs.
Police say that on the day of the shootings, Watts encountered Thandiwe on the third level of the parking deck across the street from the office building where she worked.
He shot her in the neck, then took her car and left the parking garage through the entrance gate, shooting randomly at people walking along the street and hitting Ferenczy and Garcia, investigators say.
All three women worked in the Proscenium building at 14th Street and Crescent Avenue in Midtown, as did Thandiwe, who had been a security guard there for about a year.
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