The man accused of shooting five people in Lawrenceville on Thursday says he was playing video games with friends that night and knows nothing about the slayings, according to his defense attorney.
Richard Ringold, 44, was arrested Friday morning after he returned to the scene of the shooting. He was “distraught” when informed that his girlfriend and three others were dead, said his attorney Charlie Wrinkle.
“He just dropped his head and said, ‘I can’t believe she’s dead,’” Wrinkle said Monday.
His client was so upset, Wrinkle said, that he was placed on suicide watch at the Gwinnett jail as a precaution.
Ringold told his lawyer he was at his girlfriend’s house earlier that day. He said he left around 9 p.m. to play video games at a friend’s home in DeKalb County. At that time, Ringold said “everybody was fine,” Wrinkle said.
Ringold is accused of shooting his girlfriend, Atania Butler, 28; her 11-year-old daughter, Jjane Thomas; her 4-year-old daughter, whose name police have not released; and her friends Rico Zimmerman, 19, and Lakeisha Parker, 30.
Only the 4-year-old survived.
It appears Ringold’s personal life was a little complicated.
His lawyer said he had been dating Butler for about six months. Court records show he is married to a woman in Loganville, although he sought a divorce from her in May.
And prosecutors say Ringold was arguing with Butler the night of the shooting because he had recently become romantically involved with yet another woman.
Authorities said he may have turned a gun on the others to eliminate witnesses. However, Zimmerman’s girlfriend escaped from the house and called 911.
Investigators are confident that Ringold was the shooter, said Gwinnett police spokeswoman Cpl. Illana Spellman.
“We have probable cause for the charges that we made,” Spellman said Monday.
A preliminary hearing for Ringold will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Gwinnett jail.
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