Arrest made in wrestler's death

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By Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

DeKalb County authorities have arrested the man they say shot pro-wrestler Chris Long while he was working security at a Buford Highway strip club.

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DeKalb County Sheriff's Office Ahmad Gill, 31, charged in the death of wrestler Chris Long.

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Lucha Libre USA Chris Long, who went by the name "Solid, " was shot and killed while working at a DeKalb County nightclub early Sunday.

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Ahmad Gill, 31, was arrested at a townhome in Stone Mountain Wednesday around 3:45 p.m., DeKalb police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said. He was taken into custody by the DeKalb County Sheriff's office fugitive squad, Parish said.

Police on Tuesday charged Gill with homicide and aggravated assault. He is accused of shooting Long, 33, early Sunday at Shooter Alley.

Long, one of two men who were shot, died after he was taken to a hospital, Parish said. The other man, who police have not named, was released from the hospital Monday morning.

“Apparently three guys started misbehaving and Chris and two other bouncers tossed them out," Long's friend, Frank Aldridge, told the AJC.

While Aldridge said the three men later might have returned to the club and specifically targeted Long, Parish said Monday that "indications from our detectives are the suspect randomly fired inside the club."

Long was a wrestler with Lucha Libre USA, a Mexico-based company that produces live events and television shows on MTV2. He went by the nickname "Solid" and was the comedic sidekick to Marco Corleone, Aldridge said.

Aldridge, who previously owned the Good Ol' Days restaurants in Atlanta, met Long about 15 years ago and hired him as a manager. When the restaurants closed, Long helped launch the WWA4 Wrestling School, which Aldridge has owned since 1995.

“We were working on a lot of wrestling shows, including a very creative Christian wrestling operation," Aldridge said.

-- Staff writers Larry Hartstein, Mike Morris and Alexis Stevens contributed to this report.