‘Real monster.’ Georgia man gets life sentence in mistaken revenge murder of stranger
A Georgia man was sentenced to life in prison for murdering a stranger who he thought was involved in a drive-by shooting that injured his nephew.
Jamaar Bracey believed that 22-year-old Shawn Gray shot his nephew in the neck in Chicago on Jan. 6, according to Cobb County District Attorney Flynn D. Broady Jr, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported.
After his nephew was shot, “Bracey immediately started stalking a group on Facebook whom he believed was responsible solely because they had previously lived at the residence where the shooting occurred,” Broady told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Gray, unknowing of any connection to the shooting, came to Atlanta in January with “his girlfriend and her son to celebrate her birthday,” according to the newspaper. Bracey found out where the couple was staying from a Facebook post.
He then stalked the couple at their hotel three separate times, including putting a GPS tracker on Gray’s rental car on Jan. 15 and tracking them for 24 hours, the newspaper reported. Bracey also “texted his sister and his co-defendant, Ashley Davis, about the tracker” and where Gray was located.
On Jan. 17, Davis took Bracey to Gray’s hotel where he snuck up and fired six shots — four of them hitting Gray, Patch reported. Gray then attempted to run but “fell to his death on an embankment outside the hotel,” Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
After the killing, Bracey wrote on Facebook, “Hurt me? I’ll let karma do its job. Hurt my family? I’ll become karma,” according to trial evidence, Patch reported.
“A hotel maintenance worker found Gray’s shoes with blood on them” and his cellphones the following day, Broady said. Police found Gray’s body around noon, and based on hotel surveillance video said, “it was obvious this was a targeted murder,” Broady told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Davis was arrested a few days later,Patch reported, and police identified Bracey as the shooter based on his social media and surveillance video, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
Bracey was arrested in North Carolina in February.
“There was no evidence that Gray had any association with Bracey or his nephew, other than dating the mother of someone who formerly lived at the Chicago residence where Bracey’s nephew was shot,” authorities said, according to Patch.
“Jamaar Bracey is a real monster,” Senior Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Green, who led the prosecution, told Fox 5 Atlanta. “He hunted Shawn like an animal hunts their prey. He followed, stalked, and tracked Shawn for three days before repeatedly pulling the trigger.”
She added, “It was calculated, wanton, and coldblooded. Because of this defendant, Shawn’s children will grow up without their father — and for no reason.”
Bracey was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during a crime on Sept. 21, Patch reported.
He received a life sentence, plus five years without parole.
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