Police have yet to confirm whether the suspect in Friday's Midtown shooting specifically targeted the woman who was slain.
It seems unlikely security guard Nkosi Thandiwe would've known 26-year-old Brittney Watts, who transferred from 22squared's Tampa office only last month. The digital planning supervisor and her husband, both UGA graduates, had moved to Florida in 2008.
"Did I mention how I happy I am to be back here?" blogged the Roswell High School alum in a post dated June 29.
But police were struck by the brazen nature of the crime they described as an ambush.
"It was a pretty bold move of him to shoot so many people in the middle of the day," said Maj. Keith Meadows, head of Atlanta Police Department's major crimes division. Investigators believe the gunman was waiting for Watts in the parking deck at 14th Street and Crescent Avenue.
Thandiwe, 22, fired one shot, hitting her in the neck, then got into her Toyota Prius and drove away. On his way out of the deck he shot and wounded two other women -- Lauren Garcia, 23, and Tiffany Ferenczy, 24, though investigators believe those shootings were random.
Garcia was shot in the back and remains hospitalized. Ferenczy, who was wounded in the leg, has already been released from the hospital.
Watts' stolen Prius was later recovered in southwest Atlanta.
Thandiwe was hired a little less than a year ago to work at the Proscenium building, AlliedBarton Security Services confirmed Friday. The company said he passed a background screening conducted under the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s security personnel clearance requirements.
The suspect, one of four siblings, was featured in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story about families that jogged together for exercise. Thandiwe's mother is a constitutional lawyer and anti-death penalty advocate. Calls to the family seeking comment were not returned.
Police have released no new details regarding their investigation since Thandiwe turned himself in to authorities Friday evening. The suspect's attorney, Rickey Richardson, has declined comment.
Updates to come.
--Staff writer Marcus K. Garner contributed to this article.
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