Insets, from left: Atlanta police Officer Gerald Walker (APD) and Linton Blackwell (Capital B Atlanta). Background: Atlanta police investigate an officer involved shooting on Oct. 12, 2025 (WXIA).
An autopsy showed an off-duty Georgia police officer shot a rapper 17 times in the back during a confrontation outside a bar.
The incident occurred shortly after 11:30 p.m. Oct. 12 outside Atlanta”s 5 Paces Inn. According to Atlanta police, Officer Gerald Walker was working extra duty at the bar when he responded to a call about a “disruptive person.”
Walker spotted the man, later identified as 44-year-old Linton “B-Green” Blackwell, trying to re-enter the bar from a back entrance. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Blackwell started walking away from Walker and toward a parking lot. The cop saw Blackwell enter a car “before putting an item in the small of his back.” Walker gave Blackwell “commands in reference to a gun” before opening fire, hitting him.
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Paramedics pronounced Blackwell dead on scene. Cops recovered a firearm.
But Blackwell’s friends and family are questioning whether the shooting was justified. Those concerns grew louder when an autopsy said Blackwell was hit 17 times in the back area, according to local NBC affiliate WXIA.
“I just couldn’t believe it was 17 times in the back,” Blackwell’s friend and manager Timothy Coleman told the TV station. “There’s not one shot in the front.”
Coleman said he does not believe the shooting was justified.
“If he wasn’t pointing a gun at you or doing anything, what does that have to do with shooting him in the back 17 times?” he said in an interview with WXIA. “That means he wasn’t facing you. He wasn’t a threat.”
Walker needs to be charged with a crime, said Coleman.
“I want him locked up,” Coleman emphasized. “Gerald Walker needs to be behind bars.”
GBI is the lead agency investigating the case. Once it is done with the investigation, it will turn over the findings to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office for review. Prosecutors will determine whether the officer was justified in shooting Blackwell or should face criminal charges. The investigation is ongoing.
