ATLANTA — An Atlanta cab driver was shaken up after he was pulled over and realized one of his patrons was the alleged suspect in a deadly triple shooting on Monday.
Checker Cap's Giles Patrick Manido was working in Midtown when he got a call that the suspect, Raissa Kenge, needed a ride from a hotel off 14th Street. He said that Kenge had ridden in his taxi before, and he's even met her dad.
"The first time I picked her up, she was with her dad, and I had a long conversation with her dad," he said and added later, "I've picked her up at the hotel before, so for me, it was just a normal day."
Checker Cab gave 11Alive a copy of the dashcam video from the day of the crime spree.
Kenge got into the cab, and the two headed to a home in northeast Atlanta. According to Manido, she got out and began banging on several doors in the area. She asked Manido to wait on her, but he said he couldn't, that he had to go to the airport.
Below | Watch the taxi ride in the playlist
"I asked her where she wanted to go after this," Manido said. "She didn't mention anything about an airport. She said she was going to Marietta, Georgia."
After telling Manido her plans, she continued to pace around his car, then hopped in, telling him she also needed a ride to the airport. Kenge told Manido that she was meeting someone she knew, specifically at the international terminal.
When they were on the way to the airport, Manido said he got a call from the police asking about his passenger. They wanted to know what she was wearing and if she had a suitcase. He said he tried to level with Kenge about the situation.
"I was trying to be honest with her, 'there's something going on, and these phone calls I'm getting are about you, so you have to be honest,'" Manido said. He even asked her if she was running from anything, but she replied no, according to the taxi cab driver.
Kenge denied that the calls were about her and police could not identify her through the questions they asked Manido on the phone, he said.
"So at that point, I just thought they were just trying to check everyone who was near the hotel," Manido said.
He took Kenge to arrivals at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and drove off. A short time later, Manido was pulled over by police, and they showed him a wanted photo of Kenge.
"I said yes, she was in the car," Manido said. "That lady was in the car; that was the same lady."
Manido said he never saw a gun with Kenge, but when calls from police came in, he was scared to look in the backseat of his cab.
"I'm very fortunate because if this woman was suicidal. She could shoot me and shoot herself," he said.
Below | 911 calls from bystanders
Information about the shooting
Atlanta Police announced a deadly shooting on Peachtree Street and West Peachtree Street on Monday, forcing several residents to shelter in place. The alleged shooter Raissa Kenge, was eventually taken into custody hours later at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
The two people who died were identified by the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office as 60-year-old Michael Shinners and 41-year-old Wesley Freeman. The third victim's name was released on Tuesday by his family. Mike Horne is still in the hospital, according to his family.
Documents in a job discrimination lawsuit filed last year Kenge, show the two victims' names among dozens. It’s one of two lawsuits she's a part of against the building management of 1280 West. She claimed to be a whistleblower in a federal civil suit, and the company and the managers involved violated her civil rights and financial regulations.