Brittney Watts Murder Update: After Triple Shooting, CBS News Reporter Asks,

Is Midtown Atlanta Safe?
By Nicholas Stix
Updated at 4:29 a.m., on Tuesday, July 19, 2011.
 

Atlanta murder victim Brittney Watts. 

 
Atlanta is such a dangerous city, ranking among the ten most violent in America on some lists, with rampant black-on-white violence, that one has to wonder: Is anywhere in Atlanta safe?
 

Defendant Nkosi Thandiwe. 

Defendant Nkosi Thandiwe’s mother, Lynnae Francine Thandiwe, is a constitutional attorney, and according to Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter, Christian Boone, an anti-death penalty advocate.

 
Brittney and Brian Watts had been married for less than 1,000 days, and had not yet had any children. 

Mrs. Thandiwe and her husband have lived together with the defendant, his brother and sister in the same house for the past 15 years.

AlliedBarton Security Services, which employed Thandiwe at the time of the alleged crimes, confirmed that Thandiwe worked for it,

a little less than a year. AlliedBarton conducted a thorough background screening, which included a fingerprint analysis, under the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's strict security personnel clearance requirements. His pre-employment background check revealed no prior incidents.

In a story posted at Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Web site at 5:44 p.m. on Monday, entitled, “Conflicting signs on whether Midtown shooting suspect targeted victim,” reporter Christian Boone argued that Thandiwe may not have targeted Watts, which was odd on two levels: Thandiwe has not, to my knowledge, confessed to the murder or other shootings, and Boone reported that Atlanta police have refused to provide any information regarding motive.

Perhaps Boone’s editor was using sloppy English, and meant to say, “Conflicting signs on whether Midtown shooter targeted victim,” as opposed to “suspect.” Boone’s title presumes Thandiwe’s guilt. But he was neither caught in the act, nor did he confess. Indeed, before turning himself in, he obtained a lawyer, surely through his mother’s help, and immediately lawyered up, upon turning himself in. (If the Brian Nichols mass/spree murder case is any precedent, Thandiwe could have died of old age on the lam, before the Atlanta PD would have caught him.) Until he confesses or is convicted, he is entitled to the presumption of innocence. We don’t know if the suspect, actually, defendant at this point, was the shooter, but we know that the shooter was the shooter.

Boone’s speculation appears to be based solely on the news that the Wattses had returned to the Atlanta area only one month earlier. However, that does not exclude the possibility that Thandiwe had come to be acquainted with Watts. A security guard is bound to cross paths with a great many employees from a building in the course of a day, and if he works the lobby during main business hours, he may see every employee working those hours at least once.

Boone also claims that the Thandiwes have four rather than three children, as previously reported, but I’d like independent corroboration, before taking the AJC’s word on those matters.

Likewise, although one of my readers, “RaYMaN,” who claims to know the defendant, maintains that Nkosi Thandiwe is a graduate of the University of West Georgia, I have not yet confirmed that claim, either.

I knew Nkosi. This is a terrible event and has left all of his friends stunned. He was a graduate from University of West Georgia with a degree in Anthropology (i think). He was a loving soul, and I cannot imagine what brought him to do this.

I send my condolences to the Watts family. I can only imagine what Ms. Watts' family is going through, and I have kept them in my prayers for the past few days. However, his family was respectable and definitely not unruly or misguided. I'm sure they are as hurt and stunned at this occurrence as I, and the rest of everyone who knew him is.

With him waiving his first appearance...I'm starting to wonder if something mentally happened to cause this event. I hope for the sake of her family, and for everyone, it will eventually come out...why???

Another reader, posting anonymously, wrote,

This is a shocking and tragic event. Id like to send my condolences to both the Watts and Thandiwe families. Both have lost incredible family members.

I personally know Nkosi. He is not the overbearing and disgruntled guy they are portraying him as in the media. He is a son of a constitutional lawyer. He is a citizen of the USA. He is a college graduate... a honors graduate at that. He is extremely intelligent and very responsible. He enrolled in college at the tender age of 16 or 17. He is silly and full of laughter. He loves to dance. The reason why the background check came out clear is because IT WAS EXACTLY THAT...CLEAR. He was a good child. No previous run ins with the low. This breaks my heart it has come down to this. He really need mental evaluation because the Kosi I know wouldnt have done anything like this.

It is highly peculiar for a college-educated, 22-year-old black man to have to settle for work as a security guard in Atlanta, the depression notwithstanding, even one without well-to-do, well-connected parents. Since the election of the late Maynard Jackson in 1973, Atlanta has been a thoroughly racist, corrupt, black-run city—if you’ll pardon the triplicate—in which a black man just out of college with a bachelor’s degree can count on a well-paying job with good benefits and likely with supervisory responsibility.