Alicia Freeman feared the worst when she received a call from Grady Memorial Hospital telling her that her husband had been shot. Her husband, Wesley Freeman, had been shot at an office tower at 1100 Peachtree Street in Midtown on August 22 and would later die at Grady.
Police arrested Raissa Kengne and charged her with two counts of murder for the death of Freeman and Michael Shinners in two separate shootings in Midtown. She is being held at the Fulton County jail with no bond.
The suspect was not a stranger to Freeman’s family.
“Honestly, my first thought was her because I knew she was really causing problems in his life,” she said. “I thought, ‘Dear God please, don’t let that be the person that shot him’ and it was.”
Wesley Freeman was Kengne’s direct supervisor at BDO USA, a public accounting firm, between 2018 and 2021. She sued him and others after quitting; the lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice in November in federal court.
There have been no updates in the criminal case since the indictment was filed in early November. According to court records, Kengne does not have an attorney yet. During Kengne’s first appearance, Magistrate Judge Todd Ashley asked her several times not to speak, but she continued and insisted the public defender representing her at the hearing was not her lawyer.
Ashley explained several times that, because of the charges against her, Kengne was not eligible for bond and would be able to hire her own attorney later. Kengne continued trying to address the judge, who ended the hearing and dismissed her from the courtroom.
“I just want her to feel in her heart that she hurt somebody and not just him. She hurt me,” Alicia Freeman said. “She hurt the people that loved him.”
Credit: Contributed by Alicia Freeman
Credit: Contributed by Alicia Freeman
Falling in love
The Freemans met on a blind date. Alicia had an extra ticket to a comedy show and someone suggested inviting Wesley. Afterward, she gave him her number. He called her on the way home.
Months later, Wesley invited her on a work trip to the Cayman Islands. It would become a summer vacation spot for them.
“We couldn’t get enough of each other. He was so romantic, he did everything he could to make me smile,” she said. “We just had this beautiful relationship. We just wanted to be together all of the time.”
They married in September 2014. In 2018, Alicia was diagnosed with breast cancer. Wesley dedicated himself to caring for her.
“He was taking his (Certified Public Accountant) exams and working a full-time job, yet I still never felt as if he wasn’t totally, 100%, present in my journey,” Alicia said. “He went to every single doctor’s appointment. He never made me feel alone. He took take care of me every step of the way.”
Alicia navigated other health problems for years with Wesley’s devoted support. She laments now that they were robbed of more happy years, but cherishes the time they did have.
“He loved me more than any human could possibly love another human and I got to experience this great love that most people wouldn’t get to experience,” she said. “That makes me the luckiest girl in the world.”
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