The Cobb County grand jury this week indicted a man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend on the Kennesaw State University campus, according to court records.
Samuel El Harris, 21, was indicted on six charges, including felony murder, malice murder and aggravated assault, in the May 18 shooting that killed Alasia Franklin. Franklin, 21, was shot to death in front of the Austin Residence Complex on the south side of campus.
Harris initially fled the scene but was later arrested and accused of using a Glock 9mm handgun to shoot Franklin, according to police. Harris is from Cairo, a South Georgia town where Franklin went to high school. He was not a student at KSU.
According to court records, Harris was also indicted on charges of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, carrying a weapon within a school area and tampering with evidence. Investigators believe he hid Franklin’s car and cellphone after the shooting, his indictment states.
Franklin had dreams of becoming a nurse after college and had made the Dean’s List, according to her family.
“She was a special individual to everyone she encountered,” her mother, Alinda Henderson-Fortner, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after her death. “She was very humble, respectful, smart and beautiful inside and out.”
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Franklin served on the KSU homecoming court as a junior in October. She celebrated her 21st birthday a month later, her family said.
“She was my oldest daughter. She was very smart and intelligent with a heart of gold,” her father, Frederick Fain, told the AJC.
Harris remained late Friday in the Cobb jail, where he was being held without bond.
Franklin’s death came about three months after a nursing student was killed on the University of Georgia campus. Laken Riley was killed in February near the UGA intramural fields. Jose Antonio Ibarra has been indicted on several charges, including murder, in that case.
Ibarra is tentatively scheduled for trial in November.
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