A 20-year-old accused in a fatal shooting outside Lenox Square earlier this year was arrested Tuesday in New York, according to Atlanta police.
Ricky James Lafargue had been on the run since the March 8 shooting outside the Buckhead mall. Investigators believe an argument over a parking spot led to the deadly shooting. Thuan Nguyen, 31, of Tennessee, was shot in the head and died at the scene.
Police released surveillance images of three people possibly involved in the shooting. Four days after the incident, Lafargue was charged with Nguyen’s murder but he eluded capture until this week.
“Arresting Ricky Lafargue makes one less dangerous criminal on the streets,” Atlanta police posted on social media.
“Mr. Lafargue was apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service in Brooklyn, NY,” Atlanta police posted on social media. “Mr. Lafargue is being held in New York, awaiting extradition to Atlanta.”
Investigators are still seeking three other suspects believed to have been involved in the shooting, the fourth in four months at Lenox. Arrests have been made in all of the prior shootings.
Four days before Christmas, a Macy’s employee was shot during an armed robbery in the mall’s parking deck. Carolyn Gilbert survived the shooting but was traumatized.
“To be robbed like this? I could have died. I could have died,” Gilbert told AJC.com in February. “I’m an aunt and godmother. I could have died, and that’s something I will have to live with the rest of my life.”
The shootings prompted increased security at Lenox, where Atlanta police already have a mini-precinct.
In mid-October, a man being robbed at the cash register inside Neiman Marcus at Lenox Square pulled out a gun and fired shots, Atlanta police previously said. Then, the man helped identify two of the people who tried to rob him, according to Officer TaSheena Brown. That’s when investigators realized the robbery victim was wanted for a prior crime. Police arrested three suspects in the incident.
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