ATLANTA — Raissa Kengne filed hundreds of pages of court documents in the past two years seeking justice against claims of harassment and fraud. 11Alive Investigates read them all, which paint a picture of a frustrated and isolated woman, that was running out of cash.
Kengne appeared before a judge Tuesday afternoon and was denied bond after deputies said she fired shots by West Peachtree Street, killing two men the day before. She was taken into custody at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Monday.
By the time police arrested her, court records show she was fighting to stop foreclosure on a property in Douglasville and get the power turned back on at her condo. While she owns land, an abandoned house, and her condo at 1280 West Peachtree, as of May she told the court she had less than $3,000 to her name and no income.
After reviewing the files and speaking with sources connected to her case, 11Alive learned that Kengne acted as her own attorney, unable to find anyone who would represent her long and complicated claims. She tried several local firms and even attached plane ticket stubs in one of her court filings to show she had gone to Washington, D.C., to try to find a lawyer there.
Kengne alleged her phone and computer were hacked. She said she was isolated from her family which live outside of the country and said several times she feared for her life.
From the documents, it’s clear she had problems with two main groups. The first is BDO, the accounting and consulting firm where she worked as an IT Audit Manager until November of 2021. She also takes issue with the property management company at 1280 West Peachtree where she lived.
Kengne claims she found repeated evidence that audits were not being performed correctly at BDO. She claimed she told this to Wesley Freeman, who was the director of the unit. Freeman is also one of the men killed. He died in the Midtown shooting Monday at 1100 Peachtree Street NE.
She said in her lawsuit that the company ignored her concerns and when she refused to drop it, and later started harassing her. She claimed the company offered her a 12% raise, which to her was the final straw. She took the raise as a bribe to be quiet. She later said she left the company on Nov. 18, 2021.
Kengne has been trying for a while to get someone to listen. She reached out to 11Alive in April, asking us to investigate the claims of fraud at BDO.
But her lawsuit goes a step further. That’s where the property management company comes in.
She alleged it allowed someone to use a copy of her condo key to break into her apartment, steal things on behalf of BDO and intimidate her. She describes the security in the building and how someone would need not only need a key to access her floor at the building but also a key to get inside - both of which could be accessed by the property manager’s office.
The other person killed in the shooting was Michael Shinners, the general manager for the same condo association.
Kengne reported these alleged condo break-ins to the police. In her lawsuit, she states that an officer was sent out to review security footage and dust for fingerprints. She accused Shinners and the condo association board of blocking her access to that security footage and helping her resolve the situation.
She listed three incidents in her lawsuit from last year. But it wasn’t until a week ago that she started posting her allegations and frustrations on LinkedIn. In one video, a clerk at the Atlanta Police Department told her the case is still marked as a non-crime. She demanded to talk with a supervisor.
It’s at that point Sgt. Busby came out to talk with her. In the video, you can hear a woman, who is presumed to be Raissa Kengne, explain the situation.
“Someone broke into my home, right, they opened the safe," she said. "They broke the safe, took evidence that I had in my safe.”
She continued to question Sgt. Busby about why the incident isn’t listed as burglary, or a crime, and why no further investigation took place.
11Alive received copies of four other police reports. Two appear to report her frustration with unwanted phone calls and texts from solicitors. The other two involve tensions with a neighbor, whom she alleged in court filings participated in her harassment.
Kengne is also involved in a lawsuit involving several tenants at 1280 West Peachtree, accusing the condo association of improperly handling balcony repairs. Tenants feel the association should have filed a claim with the insurance company, rather than assessing tenants the $5,000 to $7,000 it costs to make the repairs at each unit.