Man Shot 11 Times, Killed While Changing Tire

ATLANTA, GA — A Decatur man was shot 11 times and killed Saturday night as he was changing a flat tire in a parking lot on Memorial Drive, according to police. Justin Edwards, 34, was the father of a 4-year-old son and himself the son of a DeKalb County political activist who has worked to curb gun violence.

According to the Atlanta Police Department, Edwards was on his way home from dinner with his girlfriend at about 11 p.m. when he pulled into the parking lot to check on his car's rear tires, which were both flat.

Witnesses, including Edwards' girlfriend, told police that while he was checking the tires, an unknown man walked up and shot him. It happened on the 600 block of Memorial Drive; the shooter ran east along Memorial after the shooting.

Officers were called to the scene at about 11:20 p.m. Edwards was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died. No one else was injured in the shooting.

Edwards was a logistics manager at Lockheed Martin who was working toward a master's degree, according to his family.

His father, Joe Edwards, told WSB-TV he thinks someone may have intentionally slashed the tires to ambush his son, although he doesn't know why someone would do so.

"Too many killings, too many carjackings and too many things of that nature, and something needs to be done about it," Joe Edwards told the station.

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