AUGUSTA, Ga. – When Nicklaus Wilson was shot to death there seemed to be no obvious reason, nor did there seem to be any logical reason after sheriff’s officers began investigating.
During a Richmond County Civil Court preliminary hearing Tuesday, Sheriff Sgt. Chris Langford testified that Andrew D. Gaines, 31, was arrested in Columbia, S.C., after Wilson was shot to death just before 2 a.m. March 22 outside the Waffle House on Gordon Highway.
The two men didn’t know each other, nor did they have any physical or much of a verbal exchange that night after Gaines arrived at the restaurant in the former Southgate Plaza with two friends, Langford testified.
The actions of the two men were all on video and Gaines friends’ filled in details they knew – Gaines was in the backseat of his friend’s vehicle when Wilson, 32, walked up to his window. Wilson acted as if to greet Gaines who responded he didn’t know the man. Then Wilson made motions as if revealing a gun and walked away, Langford said. That’s when Gaines pulled a gun and fired several times. Wilson was shot in the back, Langford said.
Six 9mm shell casings were found at the scene, Langford testified. Gaines drove off in his friend’s vehicle, allegedly taking the gun he took from Wilson with him, witnesses told investigators.
At the conclusion of the hearing the charges against Gaines, who has no criminal history in Augusta, were bound over to the grand jury. Gaines remains in jail without bond charged with murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and theft.
