1 killed, 2 injured in northwest Atlanta shooting

A nightclub owner was killed and two others injured in an ambush-style shooting Monday afternoon in northwest Atlanta, according to witnesses and police.

Mike McGee, of Roswell, said he and his son have been renovating the Deja Vu club on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard, near the intersection with Lanier Street. The two were working Monday afternoon when the club’s owner, whose name was not released, had a dead car battery, McGee said.

McGee and his son were trying to help the man when they were ambushed by two gunmen, McGee told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“As soon as we connected the battery cables, they turned the corner and started shooting,” McGee said. “There was nothing nobody could do.”

McGee said the man who owned the club died after being shot. Another man, whose name was not released, was shot in the back and transported to Grady Memorial Hospital in serious condition, Capt. Paul Guerrucci with Atlanta police said late Monday.

McGee said his son ran from the area and jumped over a 15-foot wall to avoid being shot, breaking his leg in the fall. But McGee dropped to the ground and pretended to be injured, which he said likely saved his life.

“Only reason I got away was because I was laying down playing dead,” McGee said.

Investigators believe the shooting was a planned attack, and that robbery could have been the motive.

“At this point in our investigation, it doesn’t appear to be a random act,” Guerrucci said.