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Former All-Pro linebacker Chip Banks — the #3 overall pick in the 1982 NFL Draft — is fighting for his life after he was shot in an apparent targeted attack in Georgia … TMZ Sports has learned.
Cops tell us officers responded to a call about a shooting in the Atlanta area around noon on Wednesday and arrived to find 3 victims — including Banks — suffering from gunshot wounds.
One of the men, cops say, was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel.
The other two men — including Banks — were “alert, conscious and breathing” and transported to a local hospital for treatment, officials added.
We’re told 60-year-old Banks, the 1982 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, is currently in “serious condition.”
As for how the shooting went down … cops told local media outlets Wednesday they believe a group of 5 or 6 men with masks on rolled up to the residence, shot a man in the driveway and then went inside and shot the other two men before running off.
Cops told local outlets they do not believe the shooting was random — in other words, it appears at least one of the men was the target of a hit.
“Detectives are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident,” a spokesperson for the Atlanta Police Dept. tells us. “The investigation continues.”
Banks was a pretty big star in the NFL in the 1980s and early 1990s … playing for the Cleveland Browns, San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts.
Banks — who was drafted out of USC ahead of guys like Jim McMahon and Marcus Allen in 1982 — was a 4-time Pro Bowler in his 10 seasons in the league.