Mother of man killed at apartments on Lindbergh blames broken security gates for his death

ATLANTA — The mother of a man murdered outside a Buckhead Apartment complex is blaming broken security gates for her son’s death.

Sara McKinnon believes her son’s killer targeted him because he was walking two pricey puppies and that the broken security gates gave them access to her son.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was live in Buckhead on Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m. on Thursday at the Willowest Apartments on Lindbergh

Those gates are still a problem four months later.

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Fernandes said the gate was wide open, and earlier when they were at the front entrance, there were issues with that gate as well.

That’s scary for people who pay between $2,000-$3,000 a month to live there, thinking the gates are protecting them.

“I was reassured that I was going to be in a safe place,” said McKinnon.

McKinnon said she decided to live at Willowest because the property managers said it was a safe place to live.

“I’m a single mother and I work two jobs to bring my son to a safe place (crying) and unfortunately, they failed me,” said McKinnon.

Back on Aug. 13, her son, 22-year-old Jayden, was killed while walking two French Bulldogs.

McKinnon is now feeling survivor’s guilt because she believes the murder suspect targeted her son to steal the dogs.

“A lot of what ifs, what if I stayed home that day, people said it could’ve been me,” said McKinnon.

The suspect got away with one dog but the other dog ran during the robbery.

McKinnon now has the dogs back and the suspect is behind bars.

She said her attorneys filed a civil lawsuit Thursday because McKinnon blames the broken security gates on her son’s death.

She said they were broken for weeks leading up to the murder.

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Channel 2 Action News called the company that owns the complex but they have not gotten back.

“Right now I just feel that they’re money-hungry and they didn’t really care about the tenants,” said McKinnon.

The attorney said this could’ve happened to anybody.

“This could’ve been anybody walking their dog - this could’ve been any complex in Atlanta or any other city that doesn’t provide security,” said Chris Stewart, attorney.

Channel 2 Action News will continue reaching out to the property owners to see how they are responding to the lawsuit and how they plan to keep their tenants safe when the gates are often broken.

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