Former boxing champion and U.S. Olympian Vernon Forrest was shot and killed in an attempted carjacking in Atlanta on Saturday, WSB Radio in Atlanta reports.
According to Lt. Keith Meadows with the Atlanta police department, Forrest was putting air in his car tires around 11 p.m. Saturday at a gas station when at least two men tried to steal his car. The boxer had a gun on him and started running after the suspects.
"The victim and suspect became involved in a brief foot chase," Lt. Meadows told WSB. "At some point, gunfire was exchanged between the two of them. The victim was shot at least once in the head."
Lt. Meadows said Forrest was shot seven or eight times by two semi-automatic weapons. Forrest's girlfriend's young son was in the car at the time of the shooting, but is in police custody and is unharmed.
"At this point we have a general description of at least two black males driving a red Monte Carlo." Lt. Meadows said of the description of the suspects.
Forrest was a member of the 1992 U.S. Olympic team in Barcelona, recorded two WBC welterweight wins against Sugar Shane Mosley in 2002 and beat Sergio Mora for the WBC junior middleweight title in September.
A fighter with a career record of 41-3 with 29 knockouts, Forrest lost his WBC belt in May because of a rib injury. He was scheduled to fight Sergio Martinez on August 1.
