FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said extraordinary measures have been taken to protect her and her family amid threats since a high-profile racketeering indictment involving Atlanta rappers and the creation of a special grand jury to investigate efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.
Willis spoke exclusively to Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne about increasing threats against her.
She said that comments about her, mostly on social media, ramped up a lot after a sweeping gang indictment targeting Atlanta rappers Young Thug and Gunna and alleged members of the Young Slime Life Gang.
“We don’t believe that these threats were directed by anyone that is in the YSL indictment,” Willis said. “I would say that (threats are coming from) people that are very sympathetic, maybe admirers of YSL and people who are connected with them in some sense.”
She said she is also getting more hostile comments from former President Donald Trump’s supporters after she announced that a special grand jury is looking in to certain events connected to the most recent presidential election in Georgia.
“Oh, it is definitely a significant driver of the heightened security,” Willis said. “People are angry about that investigation. People are angry about investigations into gangs, so each of those things plays a factor.”
She said there is no evidence Trump posted any of the violent social media threats against her, but there is some indication that her movements have possibly been surveilled. Willis didn’t say by whom.
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Willis said she can’t even talk publicly about some the precautions that are being taken. Willis told Winne that an investigation is underway and if there is enough evidence, people making those threats will go to jail.
Willis said the threats have dramatically altered her day-to-day life and that she does less with friends and family because she fears they may be put in harm’s way.
“I’m much more cautious than I’ve ever been in my life, paying more attention to my surroundings” Willis said. “It’s required for me to stay alive.”
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Willis said she ran for Fulton County District Attorney in significant part to help victims and prevent other people from becoming victims -- but now she’s become a victim of ongoing threats.
She said some of the threats include her being murdered. She said one suspect has provided instructions about how people who want to harm her can use publicly-available information to find her house.
“And (that person) seems to have information about where my house is actually located,” Willis said.
She said there have also been discussions about the level of security at her home.
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The City of South Fulton, the Atlanta Police Department, the Fulton County Police Department and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office are currently working collaboratively to make sure that they are all informed and to make sure they are all taking part in Willis’ security details.
They are also supplementing her dignitary protection team from the District Attorney’s Office.
Willis said that despite the threats, she is not going to back down.
“I’m not going to be intimidated from doing it, and doing it in the correct fashion and holding people accountable,” Willis said.
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