In the pre-dawn hours of a Thursday morning in Atlanta, the life of a promising young Ethiopian filmmaker, Jagana Beyene, was tragically cut short. The 26-year-old, also known to friends and family as 'J' or 'Jack Wizzy,' was working as a clerk at a Citgo Food Mart on Glenwood Avenue on January 20, 2011, a job he had taken to make ends meet while pursuing his passion for film. His documentary, 'Habeshan Filega,' which explored the lives of Ethiopians in Atlanta, had been released just the year before.
Around 4:30 a.m., three men in a red pickup truck pulled up to the convenience store. As Beyene opened the screened window to the counter, he was met with a demand for money. In the course of the robbery, one of the men fired a handgun four to five times, striking Beyene in the lower abdomen. The assailants then grabbed the cash register drawer and fled the scene, leaving a trail of shattered glass and a life hanging in the balance. Paramedics rushed Beyene to Grady Memorial Hospital, but his injuries proved fatal.
The investigation into the senseless murder began swiftly. Atlanta police interviewed two witnesses and reviewed surveillance footage from the store. Days after the shooting, sketches of two persons of interest were released to the public in the hopes of generating leads. The viciousness of the attack left the community and Beyene's loved ones reeling, questioning why such a brutal act was necessary. Despite the initial efforts and the circulation of the suspects' descriptions, the case grew cold. There have been no publicly announced arrests, and the identities of the three men responsible for Jagana Beyene's death remain unknown. His murder is an unsolved crime that left a void in the local film community and a family forever mourning the loss of a talented and driven young man.
