Police in DeKalb County outside Atlanta are investigating a very unusual homicide that occurred Thursday afternoon: that of a Maybach driver who was shot and killed in the middle of rush hour traffic.
WSBTV and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution report that the shooting happened around 5:15 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 20 westbound near Glenwood Avenue. Witnesses say that shots were fired from a white SUV which then drove away from the scene. The victim's name has not been released.
One witness told the police station that "it sounded like a bazooka" going off in the middle of traffic as the shots were fired, and several other people called police to report seeing gunfire coming from the white SUV. No word yet on who the suspects might be or what their motive was.
It's a sad and strange case for several reasons. People don't often get shot to death in their cars on a crowded highway in the middle of the day. Plus, there's the fact that the victim was driving a Maybach, the now-discontinued, Mercedes S-Class-based super expensive luxury sedan known to be a favorite of Rick Ross and other rap stars. Considering the way this shooting went down, it doesn't sound like theft was the motive here.
Let's hope an arrest is coming soon. We'll update more on this story as we get it.
UPDATE: Several hip-hop websites are reporting that the shooting victim behind the wheel of the Maybach was Atlanta rapper OG Double D, also known as Freeband Double D. His real name hasn't been released, but news of his death is spreading across Twitter.