Beer trucker slain in Atlanta

A beer delivery truck driver was fatally shot Monday after getting into a fight with another man outside a convenience store near Oakland Cemetery, police said.

The man, whose name was not immediately made public because his relatives had not been notified, died at Grady Memorial Hospital from a single gunshot wound to the stomach, Atlanta police Lt. Keith Meadows said. He was in his mid-20s.

Police investigators said they hoped to identify the suspect through surveillance video taken while the suspect was inside the BP store, located in the 200 block of Memorial Drive at Hill Street, Meadows said.

The shooting happened about 12:30 p.m.

The beer delivery driver was delivering an assortment of beers, including Miller and Coors, to the store, Meadows said.

While he was making the delivery, the suspect walked inside and asked to use the store’s restroom, Meadows said.

Store employees wouldn’t let him.

After the delivery man walked outside to get another load of beer, witnesses told police the unidentified man asked him for money, Meadows said.

The two men got into a verbal altercation, which turned into a fistfight, Meadows said.

It started on the side of the building, near an ice machine, and moved onto the pavement in front of the store’s front door, said the store’s manager, who refused to give his name.

“We didn’t know anything,” the manager said. “We were busy with other customers.”

The men traded blows for 30 to 45 seconds before the suspect pulled out a gun and shot the delivery man, Meadows said.

The manager inside heard the gunshot, looked outside and saw the delivery man on the ground, he said.

Another delivery man, apparently the victim’s co-worker, came to his side, the manager said.

The suspect, who fled on foot, was not a regular customer.

“We don’t know who the guy is,” the manager said. “We’ve never see him in the store before.”

The delivery man died less than an hour later at Grady.