Judge: Former BDO employee not fit to stand trial in 2022 Atlanta shooting case

By Jozsef Papp
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(TNS)

A woman charged in an August 2022 shooting in Midtown that left two men dead and another injured is not competent to stand trial at this time, a judge ruled.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram issued an order declaring Raissa Kengne incompetent to stand trial and to be transferred to the custody of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.

Kengne has been in jail since her arrest at Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport on August 22, 2022, hours after she allegedly shot Michael Shinners and Wesley Freeman, wounded another man, and held a fourth victim at gunpoint.

Kengne was indicted in November 2022 and charged with two counts of murder, two counts of premeditated murder, five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, three counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a serious felony, and attempted burglary and false imprisonment.

In her order, Ingram said the court ordered a psychological evaluation of Kengne, which was conducted on June 17, 2024, and that “the psychologist was of the opinion that the defendant was not competent to stand trial.” The prosecution does not currently dispute that opinion, the judge noted.

“After reviewing all of the medical and psychological evidence and the observations of defense counsel, the court finds that defendant is unable to understand the nature of the charges against her or the purpose of the proceedings against her and is unable to adequately assist her counsel in her defense,” Ingram wrote in her order.

Once she is in the custody of the Department of Behavioral Health, Kengne's mental capacity will be reevaluated. The department must issue its findings within 90 days on whether she is competent to stand trial and whether there is a substantial likelihood that she “will attain mental capacity to stand trial in the foreseeable future,” the judge said.

If Kengne is found mentally incompetent but has a good chance of regaining her composure, the department must keep her in custody and continue to provide her with treatment for up to nine months.

Shinners was found dead and another man injured at the first crime scene, the apartment block at 1280 West Peachtree Street, around 1:45 p.m. on August 22. Shinners was the building manager, and the man who was shot and survived is the building's chief engineer.

The two were found in the management office. Beacon Management Services, the company that manages 1280 West, described Kengne as a “disgruntled resident of the building.” Atlanta police said the victims were “likely targeted.”

Thirty minutes after the men were found at the scene of the first shooting, Freeman, 41, was injured in the second shooting in an office tower at 1100 Peachtree Street, not far from the Colony Square complex. Freeman later died at Grady Memorial Hospital. Freeman was Kengne's direct supervisor at BDO USA, an accounting firm, between 2018 and 2021. She sued him and others after she quit.

After the second shooting, Kengne fled the scene in a taxi that picked her up at the Starling Atlanta Midtown Hotel on 14th Street around 2:20 p.m. and took her to a home in Ansley Park. According to her indictment, Kengne walked into the backyard of a home on Robin Hood Lane and approached the back door with the intent to enter the home.

Kengne planned to stay inside and “commit the crime of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,” the indictment says. The home is owned by an attorney who briefly represented her last year while investigating a possible claim.

When no one answered the door, Kengne got back into the taxi and told the taxi driver to take her to the airport. She claimed she was going to pick someone up. She was arrested at the airport without incident.

While in custody, Kengne filed numerous handwritten petitions with Fulton County, even though she is represented by an attorney.

During her first hearing, Kengne took the unusual step of addressing the judge directly. Judge Todd Ashley repeatedly asked Kengne not to speak during the hearing, but she ignored his order and insisted that the public defender who represented her at the hearing was not her attorney, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Ashley stated several times that Kengne was not eligible for bail due to the charges against her and that she could hire her own attorney later. Kengne continued to try to speak to the judge, but the judge ended the hearing and released her from the courtroom.

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