Boxing Champ Vernon Forrest Shot Dead

Former pro boxer Vernon “the Viper” Forrest was shot and killed Saturday night in a skirmish after he was robbed, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Forrest had stopped at a gas station to fill his tires with air when a man robbed him at gunpoint. The armed ex-fighter chased the mugger, and was shot seven to eight times in the back in an ensuing gunfight. Evidence suggested Forrest also used his weapon, police said.

"I trained a lot of kids," says Forrest's former trainer. "They’re all good role models. They understand what life is about. They take care of their family. Vernon was like that. He took care of his mother, his sister, his son. He took care of his friends. How can something like this happen? Just in the wrong place at the wrong time—that’s all it was." (More Vernon Forrest stories.)