ATLANTA — The man accused of killing a Georgia Tech student at an off-campus student apartment complex snuck into the victim’s building and hid in a stairwell for more than an hour before he fatally wounded his victim, according to an arrest affidavit.
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Nigel Belser, 21, surrendered to authorities Sunday and is being held in the Fulton County Jail on multiple charges, including murder. He is accused of killing Akash Banerjee, 22, who was a student at Georgia Tech.
High-profile defense attorney Keith Adams, a member of Young Thug’s defense team during the YSL trial, is now representing Belser.
Adams said he did not want to get into the details but told Channel 2’s Michael Seiden that his client, a student at Morehouse College, made the decision to surrender to authorities over the weekend because he is the real victim.
“He has no record whatsoever, strong ties to the community, a very strong family,” the attorney said.
Seiden obtained arrest warrants that detail the moments police say led to the fatal shooting May 18 at The Connector Apartments on Spring Street in Midtown.
Investigators say it was 4 p.m. when surveillance cameras recorded Belser walking with a light blue Gatorade bottle as he entered The Connector through the parking garage.
“The building is keyfob access, but the suspect tailgates behind two of the residents to get inside,” according to an arrest affidavit. “The suspect follows the residents onto the elevator and gets off on the second level with them. He walks down the hallway where he enters a stairwell and walks up the stairs to the ninth level.”
The surveillance video shows the victim walk down the hallway and enter his apartment on the ninth floor and that’s when the suspect is seen trying to open the door, charging documents showed.
“The suspect then waits in the hallway, now with a black face mask on, for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes,” according to the arrest affidavit. “During the time that the suspect is waiting he is walking back and forth between the victim’s apartment and the stairwell.”
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The suspect continued to hide in the stairwell and at one point, the victim is seen on surveillance leaving his apartment and heading to a nearby BP gas station on Spring Street, investigators said.
The victim leaves for about 12 minutes before surveillance video captured him returning to his apartment, where he encountered the suspect, according to investigators.
“It appears that something caught his (victim) attention, which prompted him to reach out to the door of the stairwell, where the suspect was still hiding at,” investigators said. “The victim quickly backs up, as he seems to be startled by his discovery.”
They said the victim attempted to fight back but was shot by Belser.
The suspect fled through the garage before police arrived, according to investigators.
When crime scene investigators arrived, they discovered the same Gatorade bottle that the suspect was seen carrying to the crime scene, according to court documents.
Police also determined that the suspect was living nearby at the University House on Spring Street.
Belser is also charged with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
As of Tuesday morning, police had not yet released a motive. It’s also unclear if the suspect and his alleged victim knew each other.
Channel 2 reached out to management at The Connector to see if they’ve made any changes to security measures.
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