The suspect in the fatal shooting of a Georgia Tech student at a luxury housing complex last week allegedly followed residents into the building and waited for the victim in a stairwell for more than an hour, according to Fulton County Magistrate Court records.
The shooting happened around 7 p.m. on May 18 at The Connector Apartments on Spring Street, which require a key card to enter. Akash Banerjee, 22, was shot in the head and left lying on the floor unconscious but breathing. He was placed on life support but died a couple of days later.
On Sunday, Nigel Belser, 21, of Silver Spring, Maryland, was booked into the Fulton jail on several charges, including murder and aggravated assault.
Police initially said the shooting stemmed from an argument that escalated into gunfire at the end of the ninth-floor hallway, where Banerjee lived. But warrants for Belser’s arrest paint a more sinister picture, pointing to a calculated plan of attack. A motive, however, has not been disclosed.
According to the warrants obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday, Belser was seen around 4 p.m. arriving at the location. He entered the building through the parking garage after following two other residents, then continued into the elevator and got off with them on the second floor.
“He walks down the hallway where he enters a stairwell and walks up the stairs to the ninth level,” the warrants states. There, he waits for Banerjee, who is seen on security footage entering his apartment.
“Shortly after, the suspect peeps his head outside of the stairwell door. (He then) comes out of hiding and walks to the victim’s apartment and appears to attempt to turn the doorknob to gain access,” investigators detailed in the warrants. “The suspect then waits in the hallway, now with a black face mask on, for approximately one hour and 15 minutes.”
During that time, Belser is alleged to have paced between Banerjee’s apartment and the stairwell. At some point, the victim went to a nearby gas station, according to the warrants. He was gone for 12 minutes, and when he returned, “it appears that something caught his attention, which prompted him to reach out to the door of the stairwell,” investigators detail.
Belser had been there, waiting and watching.
“The victim quickly backs up, as he seems to be startled by his discovery,” detectives noted. “In a matter of seconds, the victim attempts to fight the suspect but is quickly shot in the middle of his forehead and then pistol whipped.”
Another resident heard the gunfire and called 911, reporting that a bloodied, nonresponsive man was lying on the ground.
“I don’t know if he’s dead or in a coma, but I don’t want to open the door. I don’t want to get shot,” the caller said.
Belser had already left the same way he came in, according to the warrants, and investigators quickly began working to determine his identity. Authorities said they traced his steps with security cameras, eventually revealing that he came from another upscale student apartment complex about four blocks north on Spring Street.
People who knew Belser at that building were able to help identify him.
It’s not clear why police believe Belser was waiting for Banerjee or if they knew each other. Officials have only said they believe it was a targeted attack.
Belser turned himself in Sunday. He remained in the Fulton jail Tuesday without bond.
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