PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — For 5 months, Kim Vu’s home has remained wrecked and broken.
Plywood has replaced her front door and garage. Windows remained shattered and caution tape wrapped around a crumbling front porch.
“I can’t believe it, and I keep asking what did I do wrong?” Vu said.
The damage is from the worst night of her life.
On Aug. 17, she came home to find her husband, James (Jimmy) Atkins, drunk. Vu said Atkins threatened to kill her, so she went outside and called 911 from her car.
When authorities from the Paulding County Sheriff’s office arrived, Atkins opened fire, killing Deputy Brandon Cunningham. Atkins then shot his wife multiple times.
In the ensuing standoff, authorities used tear gas and a BearCat as her husband turned the gun on himself.
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Vu would spend the next several weeks recovering in the ICU as a community mourned the passing of the deputy.
However, after leaving the hospital, her nightmare continued.
For the past several months, she has been in an insurance battle trying to get repairs to the home authorized so she and her three kids can try to move on.
“No work can be done on that property before the inside until all the furniture is cleaned of tear gas,” Andy Rufat-Latre, cofounder of Clean Start LLC, said.
Rufat-Latre is one of the contractors who also is providing an assessment for a contractor being used for repairs.
He provided a document showing State Farm Insurance denying a claim to clean up the tear gas, which has put everything else on hold.
He also provided documentation showing State Farm was only willing to release a fraction of the estimated $90,000 repair cost to fix damage to the home.
“All of her contractors are stuck between a rock and a hard place, and she’s stuck in an even worse scenario,” Rufat-Latre said.
Vu is originally from Vietnam and has run a nail salon for the past 15 years but cannot afford the repairs without help from the insurance company.
While waiting for repairs, she has since been forced to sleep at the salon, using a gym membership to take showers.
Meanwhile, her three children have stayed at the homes of friends. She is hopeful that State Farm will reverse its decision but is worried about how much longer the process will go on.
In an email, State Farm said:
“We have shared these concerns with the appropriate area for review. Due to our company privacy policy, we can’t speak to the specifics of any individual customer claim. With any claim, State Farm seeks to provide our customers all benefits to which they are entitled within the terms of the insurance policy. This is an active claim, and we are communicating with our customer’s public adjuster and will continue to evaluate any new information submitted to us.”
If you would like to help Kim Vu, her friends have set up a GoFundMe where you can donate.
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