The film industry is in mourning after actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd was shot and killed in southwest Atlanta.
Byrd, who is well-known for starring in several films by director Spike Lee and also being a Tony Award-nominated stage actor, was found slaughtered early Saturday morning.
The call came in from the 2200 block of Belvedere Avenue about 1:45 a.m., according to Atlanta police spokesman Officer Anthony Grant. When police arrived at the scene, they found Byrd on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds in his back. He was pronounced dead by Grady emergency medical services.
Lee lamented Byrd’s death in a post on Instagram Sunday afternoon.
Byrd was born in Griffin. He received a bachelor’s degree in education at Morris Brown College before studying dance at the California Institute of the Arts. He has starred in various films directed by Lee, including “Bamboozled,” “Get on the Bus,” and “Sweet Blood of Jesus.”
In 2003, he was nominated for a Tony Award as best featured actor in the Whoopi Goldberg-Charles S. Dutton revival of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” on Broadway.
Investigators are not sure what led to the incident and are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the death, Grant said.
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