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AJC Watchdog: Did the system fail murdered movie worker?

Joseph Livolsi, 50, was shot to death in a DeKalb County apartment complex July 15, 2017. Livolsi was a special effects technician for a number of blockbuster movies filmed in Atlanta. He was married with two children. FACEBOOK
Joseph Livolsi, 50, was shot to death in a DeKalb County apartment complex July 15, 2017. Livolsi was a special effects technician for a number of blockbuster movies filmed in Atlanta. He was married with two children. FACEBOOK
By
Oct 6, 2017

Last month, police arrested Delvin Gates, 17, and charged him with the murder of 50-year-old Joseph Livolsi, a special effects technician who worked on blockbuster movies filmed in Atlanta.

Gates' arrest raises some troubling questions, including why he wasn't in jail to begin with. Going back to 2015, Gates was known to Atlanta police as a "top, repeat juvenile offender" in southwest Atlanta. Leaders in the West End neighborhood pleaded to have him removed from their midst, claiming his serial burglaries and other property crimes were causing "havoc."

Yet, he was living in an apartment in DeKalb County this summer in the same complex where Livolsi was killed. Why?

ExploreClick here to read this week’s AJC Watchdog column for more on this puzzling case.

About the Author

Joyner is the deputy politics editor. He has been with the AJC since 2010 as a member of the investigations and politics team.

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