Harold McIver was 27 and working as a manager at a Taco Bell in Doraville, Georgia, when he was fatally shot through a restaurant window on July 12, 1979. The shooter fired from about 150 yards away in what the account describes as an ambush-style attack; investigators concluded it was not a robbery but a racially motivated killing.

The investigation later tied the murder to Joseph Paul Franklin, a white supremacist who carried out a nationwide campaign of violence against African Americans, Jewish people, and interracial couples. Franklin confessed to killing McIver, saying he acted after seeing McIver in close contact with a white woman. At the time of that confession Franklin was already imprisoned and serving multiple life terms for other crimes, and McIver’s case did not result in a separate trial or sentence.

The case underlines the deadly reach of racially motivated violence and the gaps that can remain in formal legal closure for victims and families. If anyone knew Harold McIver or has information about the shooting, please share what you know.