FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Editor's Note: The video used is from previous coverage of this story.
A now-former Atlanta Police officer who allegedly shot and killed his Lyft driver on Wednesday said he believed the driver was in a "gay fraternity" and that the driver was trying to recruit and kidnap him, an incident report revealed.
Koby Minor submitted his resignation to the Atlanta Police Department the same day he was arrested. APD said he was already on administrative leave due to a separate case.
But a Union City Police incident report obtained by 11Alive gives insight into the murder investigation of 35-year-old Reginald Folks and how the tragedy may have unfolded.
Officers were sent to South Fulton Parkway at the intersection of Stonewall Tell Road before 1 a.m. in reference to a man being shot. A Union City Police sergeant was the first to arrive at the scene. When the sergeant got there, he saw Minor lying on his stomach in the roadway. He was lying behind a vehicle on the S.R. 14 Alternate westbound lanes with his arms spread out wide in a surrendering position, the report read. A Union City Police Cpt. was holding him at gunpoint, and the sergeant was told to detain him.
While the sergeant was handcuffing Minor, he allegedly made a statement that he shot the person in the car and that he dropped the gun near the roadway close to the side of the road. The car was a gray Nissan Rogue with a shattered window on the driver's side. Folks could be seen with gunshot wounds in the driver's side of the car, according to an incident report.
Minor also told the sergeant he was coming from an APD officer's house. He continued and said that he called a driver to take him home and saw a vehicle pull up. Minor said he got in the car after Folks said his name when he inquired whether it was his driver. Minor then said that as the vehicle was driving east on S.R. 14 Alternate, the driver began talking on the phone through the car's Bluetooth radio in an unknown language.
Minor then told the sergeant that when Folks was talking on the phone, he heard what he thought was another voice in his ear talking to him but did not say what that voice said. Minor then stated he asked the driver to stop the car so he could get out, but the driver allegedly did not stop. Minor said when the driver stopped at a red light at S.R. 14 Alternate and Stone Wall Tell Rd., he attempted to unlock and open the door but said it would not open. He then said he saw the driver turn around and attempt to reach into the back seat.
According to the incident report, "Minor stated he did not know if the driver was gay or not, but when the driver reached in the back seat, he could not see his other hand."
Minor continued to confess that he reached for his firearm and then fired approximately three rounds. Then, after he fired the rounds, he said he somehow broke the window and exited the vehicle.
A witness at the scene who contacted the police also gave insight into what Minor told her. She advised one of the responding officers that she was driving when she saw Minor waving his hand in the air for help. Minor told the witness that his rideshare driver was in a "gay fraternity" and was trying to recruit him into it. He also said he believed he was getting kidnapped. Minor also said that Folks reached into the back seat -- leading to Minor allegedly shooting Folks.
Folks was pronounced dead at the scene, and his mother, Marchelle Folks, told 11Alive that she last spoke to her son on Mother's Day. She said he recently started professional wrestling and was driving Lyft on the side for extra money.
"We are heartbroken about the entire thing," she said.
In terms of Minor's background, he was hired by APD in July 2018. At the time of his arrest, Minor was on unpaid administrative leave after being arrested in Milton in December 2023, an APD news release said. Warrants for that arrest show that he was accused of possessing 20 Xanax pills in Schedule IV on him, in his car and in a personal bag. The arrest occurred after Minor was driving and got into a single-vehicle accident. A warrant stated it was believed that he was impaired at the time of the accident.
APD said Minor was relieved of his department-issued firearm when he was placed on unpaid administrative leave last year. Since that time, the firearm has remained in APD's custody.
The deadly shooting is still under investigation, police said.