But even if his fears were real, that doesn’t make them any less racist. His carjacking fear was completely unfounded. Notice that there did not seem to be any interaction between the vehicle and people that McIver "perceived as threatening." Edgewood is a trendy, popular neighborhood in Atlanta. It's gentrifying rapidly, but the neighborhood is still primarily black. The phrase "perceived as threatening" is a dog whistle if I've ever heard one. It’s very hard to believe that McIver felt so nervous that he had to pull out his gun. And it’s remarkable that a man could shoot his wife in the back and still manage to blame his actions on his fear of black people.

Even without his bizarre Black Lives Matter/black people excuse, there’s still more about this story that doesn’t make sense. McIver apparently fell asleep again in the backseat, but if he was worried enough to pull out his gun, wouldn't he be worried enough to at least stay awake? And why was the gun pointed directly at his wife's back? Was there no lock on the gun or safety precautions of any kind? How did they encounter a road bump serious enough to cause a gun to discharge on one of Atlanta's most popular roads, a road which has no speed bumps?

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that, "[T]he driver took the injured woman to a hospital on Clifton Road, 4 1/2 miles away. Piedmont Hospital is less than half that distance from the shooting scene." Why wouldn’t McIver take his wife somewhere closer? At that point she was still alive. She died later that morning during surgery.

McIver isn’t the only one acting suspiciously. Police behavior in this case has been quite peculiar. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The Atlanta Police Department has said almost nothing about the case, which involves two prominent residents. They declined to elaborate on Friday. The Atlanta Police Department released an incident report of the shooting on Wednesday, more than two days after officers responded to a call of a gunshot victim at the university hospital. […] The police report did not list who was in the SUV, other than Diane McIver. An officer talked to the driver, but didn’t include in the report what the driver said.

It's not even clear that police even interviewed McIver at all. From the Daily Report:

An Atlanta police officer who'd arrived on the scene at the hospital allowed McIver to go home Sunday night on his own recognizance after he was told his wife had died, Crane said. The police officer interviewed the driver and impounded McIver's car, a white Ford Explorer, Crane said.

Why wouldn’t cops interview McIver, as well?

It’s worth pointing out that McIver is a big deal in the legal and business community in Atlanta. For forty years he’s worked as a labor and employment lawyer, working solely for the employers. McIver’s history of defending corporations is long documented—his law firm’s website says he “has successfully defended employers in more than 200 union organizing campaigns.” In 2013 he personally represented Republican Governor Nathan Deal when he refused to comply with a Georgia Open Records Act request for information on a state program’s hiring practices.

For now, McIver is sticking to his "I shot my wife because I was so scared of black people" story, but clearly there’s a lot that still needs clarification. Either way, McIver’s wife is dead because of his irrational fear of black people.

Meanwhile, it looks like he's already back to work. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Reached briefly on his cell phone Wednesday morning, McIver’s husband, Tex, described his state as “the worst I have ever felt” before saying he had to attend a meeting that would last into the afternoon.

Update: The Atlanta Police Department has confirmed via police report that “the circumstances of this shooting are still under investigation.”