A Clayton County jury has convicted a Jonesboro man of murder in the 2021 shooting death of his neighbor, a killing that began with a person-down call and a SWAT standoff and ended, five years later, with forensic evidence pulled from a cooler of bleach inside his own home. Elex Brunson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, followed by a consecutive 10-year sentence, according to the Clayton County District Attorney's Office.
The case traces back to May 19, 2021, when Clayton County police responded to a person-down call and found the victim unresponsive on a porch stoop with a gunshot wound to his neck, as reported by WSB-TV. The victim was identified by family as 22-year-old Bradley May, an airport restaurant worker and new father who had moved into a condominium on Redland Drive just two weeks before the shooting, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Family members said May had relocated to the area to help care for his eight-month-old son. Per prosecutors, May was Brunson's neighbor, and Brunson lived at the home where the victim was found.
A Standoff, Then Limited Charges
As police worked the scene, Clayton County police also attempted to evacuate the surrounding townhomes because of a fire, and Brunson refused to come outside during that evacuation. A SWAT team was eventually called in and removed Brunson from the home; the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported police entered through a back door to take him into custody unharmed. In the immediate aftermath, Brunson was originally charged only with obstruction of an officer and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon — not murder — as investigators worked to connect the crime scene to his residence.
The Albany Herald reported that May's roommate found his body on the front lawn with his car still running nearby, and investigators observed that no personal property appeared to have been taken from the scene, a detail that raised early questions about motive. Family members told the outlet they believed May had likely been shot hours before he was discovered. That same month, the Clayton County Police Department issued a public appeal for tips through Crime Stoppers to help Detective Langley advance the investigation, offering rewards of up to $2,000 for information.
Forensic Evidence Built the Case
Investigators eventually found a spent shell casing in Brunson's home, along with a projectile, blood spatter, and a handgun soaking in a cooler of bleach, according to WSB-TV. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation determined that the shell casing matched the handgun and also found gunshot residue on Brunson, both findings attributed to prosecutors in the case. That physical evidence became the foundation for the murder charges that followed years after the initial arrest.
A Clayton County jury ultimately found Brunson guilty on all counts, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, for the 2021 shooting death of May at the Clayton County townhome. Brunson maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings. Clayton County District Attorney Tasha M. Mosley formally announced the conviction in mid-August, days before the sentencing was finalized.
Sentence Reflects Georgia's Murder Statutes
Under Georgia Code § 16-5-1, a conviction for malice murder or felony murder carries a statutory penalty of life imprisonment, life without parole, or the death penalty, since Georgia law does not divide murder into first and second degrees. Separately, Georgia Code § 16-11-131 makes possession of a firearm by a convicted felon its own felony offense, punishable by one to five years in prison, which accounts for the consecutive 10-year term added to Brunson's life sentence.
The case is one of several 2021 Clayton County homicides that have worked through the courts this year. Earlier this month, Clayton County courts sentenced a Riverdale man to life for a separate 2021 murder of a 21-year-old man outside a Riverdale apartment, in a case where the defendant was convicted of malice murder after shooting the victim 13 times. Clayton County recorded 30 homicides in 2025, down from the county's 10-year average of 41 annual homicides and well below the 2022 peak of 59, according to 11Alive, with local law enforcement leaders crediting inter-agency coordination and targeted deployments for the decline. Nationally, the FBI's preliminary estimates released in May showed an 18.1% drop in homicides between 2024 and 2025, one of the largest single-year declines in federal crime data.
