Last weekend, the black American actor Thomas Jefferson Bird was found shot dead in Atlanta (Georgia state), and his colleagues and friends mourned him, including the director Spike Lee, who used him in a number of his films. .
On Monday, an Atlanta police spokesman told AFP that the 70-year-old was found by several bullets in the back early Saturday morning in the southwest of the city. The medical team verified the arrival of Jefferson on the scene.
The police have opened an investigation but have not stopped anyone yet.
Jefferson had a lot of experience as a theater actor, but he did not get his chance in the cinema until late at the age of forty-five when director Spike Lee offered him a minor role in his movie "The Lockers". Then he also took a role in another film of his, "Get on the Bus", before he was hired by other directors.
Also with Spike Lee directing, he participated in other projects, the most recent of which were the series "Cheese Got to Have It" (2017-2019) and the movie "Chai-Rak" (2015).
Spike described Lee Jefferson as his friend, in his obituary on Sunday on "Instagram", expressing his grief over his death.
Actor Wendell Pearce, who acted with him on "Get on the Bus," wrote that "Bird was courageous, amiable, calm, creative, and expressive."
Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis wrote in a tweet, "I loved working so much with you, Bird. You were such an excellent actor. I´m sorry your life ended like this."
