On October 31, 2023, 63-year-old John Marty Torres was fatally shot at the Georgia State MARTA station in downtown Atlanta. The shooting happened around 1:25 p.m. while Torres sat on a bench in the bus loop area near Jesse Hill Jr. Drive. Surveillance footage captured a man later identified as 22-year-old Paul Niqual Mitchell pacing behind Torres shortly after Torres sat down and then firing a single shot from behind. Torres was struck, and while he lay on the ground Mitchell allegedly fired additional rounds in rapid succession.

MARTA police arrived just before 1:30 p.m., found the scene secured, and took Mitchell into custody at the location after he reportedly admitted to the shooting. He was booked on charges including felony murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony; he is also facing unrelated April charges of aggravated assault and sexual battery. Torres was pronounced dead at the scene by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.

What details about the moments before the shooting or witnesses at the station might help clarify why Torres was targeted?