Man sentenced to life without parole for murder over parking space

Ricky James LaFargue, in court, learned his fate in connection with the murder of Thuan Nguyen, inset. (Courtroom screenshot and photo of victim from WSB/YouTube)

A man who “executed” his father with a gunshot to the back of the head over a dispute over a parking space at an Atlanta mall has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a longer sentence than prosecutors had sought.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Alice Benton sentenced Ricky James LaFargue, 24, to life in prison and five years in prison for the murder of Thuan Nguyen, 31.

Citing the defendant’s age at the time of the killing — he was 19 at the time — and the fact that he had no previous criminal record, prosecutors asked for a life sentence with the possibility of parole, local ABC affiliate WSB reported.

Benton didn’t see it that way.

“This case is particularly disturbing. Witnesses to the murder described it as an execution,” Benton said, the station reported. “This was pure evil, a gun to the back of the victim’s head, when you pulled the trigger and killed a man, leaving his family and a child without a father.”

Nguyen was shot in a parking lot behind Lenox Square at 3393 Peachtree Road in northeast Atlanta on the evening of March 8, 2020, Atlanta police said in a news release.

Police said the shooting occurred after two groups of people in separate cars began arguing over a parking space.

Police said the groups entered the mall and when they later emerged, there was another confrontation during which someone pulled out a gun and Nguyen was shot in the head.

“The victim and suspects separated and went into the mall but later returned to the parking lot and the argument continued,” Officer Steve Avery told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an email.

Four people got into the vehicle and drove away, but there was an accident in the parking lot and they then fled.

Gino Vowin, a witness, told WSB that there was chaos at the scene.

“We saw a man standing there with a gun, and then shots were fired,” Vowin said. “And then it got tense. We were just having dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and all you see are police cars pulling up.”

Witnesses were interviewed and surveillance footage was reviewed. LaFargue was quickly identified as a suspect, and police issued a warrant for his arrest days after the killing. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested him in Brooklyn, New York, on November 2, 2020.

He was extradited to Atlanta and booked into the Fulton County Jail in February 2021.

His defense attorney, Patrick Brackley, told WSB the gun went off accidentally.

“The defense was that Mr. LaFargue pulled out a gun, tried to strike the victim, and the gun accidentally discharged. That’s a defense that the jury apparently rejected, but I think it will make sense on appeal,” he said.

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