Police said Bell, 40, was one of two men shot shortly after getting off a bus in Southwest Atlanta. Bell was dead when police arrived at the scene.
The other victim, a 28-year-old man who was shot in the hip, was in stable condition at an area hospital.
Lt. Charles Hampton said at a media briefing Wednesday that Bell and the other victim, who did not know each other, were accosted by a group of men in a PT Cruiser shortly after midnight. Police believe robbery was the motive; the surviving victim said the men stole a bag from him.Hampton said police believe the incident is connected to a carjacking that occurred Tuesday evening at a Walmart in nearby Clayton County and are asking for the public's help in tracking down the PT Cruiser.
Bell was born in Jamaica but was based out of Atlanta from the start of his fighting career. He went 1-1 in his first two fights in 1998 before winning 17 in a row. He took the IBF cruiserweight title in 2005 and unified the belts by knocking out WBA and WBC champion Jean-Marc Mormeck at Madison Square Garden in January 2006. That made Bell the first undisputed cruiserweight champion since Evander Holyfield in 1998.
He dropped a unanimous decision in the rematch 13 months later in Mormeck's native France and all but disappeared from the boxing scene.