Former APD officer thought Lyft driver was in ‘gay fraternity,’ tried to kidnap him before shooting

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Police say the former Atlanta police officer who admitted to shooting and killing his Lyft driver thought the man was a member of a “gay fraternity” and was trying to recruit him and kidnap him, according to a witness.

According to an arrest affidavit, Koby Minor told Union City police that he was leaving an Atlanta police officer’s house and called for a rideshare driver shortly after midnight on Wednesday, May 15.

Once Lyft driver Reginald Folks pulled up, Minor got into the back seat and they started traveling down State Road 14.

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Minor said Folks began talking on the phone through the car’s Bluetooth radio in a language he didn’t understand.

Minor told police that while Folks was talking on the phone, he heard what he thought was another voice in his ear, but did not say what the voice said.

Minor said he asked Folks to stop the car so he could get out, but Folks did not stop.

Minor said when the car stopped at a red light, he tried to unlock and open the door, but it would not open.

Minor then told police that he did not know if Folks was gay or not, but when Folks reached into the back seat, he shot at him approximately three times.

After Minor shot Folks in the head, he broke the window and got out of the car.

Police spoke to a woman who pulled up to the scene soon after the shooting.

She said she stopped because she saw Minor waving his hands in the air for help.

The witness told police that Minor told her his driver “is in a gay fraternity and was trying to recruit” him into it and he believed he was being kidnapped.

Minor was an officer with the Atlanta Police Department starting in July 2018.

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At the time of his arrest, he was on unpaid leave after being arrested in Milton in December 2023 when police found 20 Xanax pills in a bag after he crashed his car.

Minor was charged with possession of a controlled substance and police said they believed he was impaired at the time of the crash.

Minor resigned from the Atlanta Police Department on Wednesday after his arrest for the shooting.

He was charged with murder and aggravated assault and is being held at the Fulton County Jail.

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