


The mayor of South Fulton, Ga., was arrested Saturday morning after he walked into a private lake house he believed was “abandoned” and exchanged hostile words with the homeowner, according to an incident report.
Mayor Khalid Kamau was charged with criminal trespass and burglary in the first degree.
South Fulton police received reports of a trespasser at a home, according to an incident report obtained by Channel 2 Action News. The homeowner relayed to police that his phone notified him around 6:52 a.m. that someone had walked onto his property, WSB-TV reported. The person walked up the driveway and into the lake house as the homeowner went to his car and called the cops, the homeowner later recounted.
Shortly after entering, the person tried to leave the lake house, but the homeowner demanded repeatedly that he remain in place until police arrived. “I don’t have to listen to you, and you can’t give me orders,” the man replied, according to the report.
After the homeowner yelled “stay put” again, the individual shouted back, “Do you know who the f**k I am? I’m the Mayor, and I’ll wait for my police to get here and see what happens then,” according to the homeowner’s report to the police. The intruder was later identified by police as Kamau.
In his account of events to the police, Kamau said that the lake house was his dream home and that he wanted to buy it, while acknowledging that he was trespassing.
Kamau claimed in the report that the homeowner threatened him with a weapon to stay on the property until police could apprehend him.
“No motherf***ker, you stay right there,” the homeowner barked at him, Kamau told the police. When he tried to introduce himself, the homeowner declared, “If you take another step, I’m going to shoot you,” Kamau said in the report. Kamau then apologized and explained that he believed the house was abandoned.
After Kamau was released from custody on $11,000 bail, he confirmed to Fox 5 News that he thought the house was not being lived in.
“I just wanted to see the house,” Kamau told the outlet. “I do apologize to the owners. I thought it was abandoned.”
Kamua said the bad optics don’t necessarily indicate his guilt but systemic problems in the community.
“I apologize for the negative attention that this is brought to our city,” he said. “I hope that the spotlight on our city right now will highlight some of the inequities that have been happening.”
When asked by Fox 5 if he was admitting that he committed a crime, he answered, “I think that’s for the voters to decide.”
Kamau is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and an outspoken supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. While serving as a city councilman in 2019, Kamau told the Nation that he wanted to transform South Fulton into a “real life Wakanda,” the civilization depicted in The Black Panther.
Since Kamau started serving as mayor in June 2022, his administration has been riddled with controversy and disruption. In July 2022, he declared that he was suing city council members and the city attorney over a public-records investigation. Members of the city council sued to oust him from office in March 2023 on the grounds that he violated a city charter.