Jurors heard evidence of an earlier clash involving a metal rod before the fatal shooting.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A 75-year-old Gwinnett County man has been sentenced to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of killing a neighbor who was walking Jack Russell puppies in Lawrenceville in 2021.

Stanley Nathaniel Elliott was convicted of felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the death of Anthony Collins, 44. The sentence, life with the possibility of parole plus five years, closed a case that began with a shooting along Riverside Parkway and centered at trial on a dispute over dogs, surveillance video and a gun found hidden inside Elliott’s garage.

The shooting happened on the afternoon of Feb. 25, 2021, as Collins walked his puppies in a neighborhood near a popular dog park. Prosecutors said Elliott encountered Collins after an earlier argument between the men and shot him after a brief exchange. Officers were called to the area near Riverside Parkway and found Collins dead near his car. Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said the verdict showed that a neighborhood conflict could not excuse deadly force. “Violence, and especially deadly violence, is not the answer for solving any dispute,” Austin-Gatson said after the sentence.

At trial, jurors heard that the fatal shooting was not the first time Elliott and Collins had crossed paths over the dogs. Witnesses testified that in December 2020, Elliott tried to hit the puppies with a metal rod he used to keep stray dogs away. Prosecutors said that prior encounter helped explain the history between the two men before the shooting. The dogs were Jack Russell puppies, and Collins had been walking them again when the final confrontation took place. Officials did not release a full transcript of the words exchanged before the shot was fired.

Investigators built the case with video from the neighborhood. Police first released footage after the killing as they searched for a person of interest known to walk in the area and carry a large stick or pole. Officers later identified Elliott and arrested him. Prosecutors said the jury saw surveillance footage showing a man resembling Elliott raising his arm after a short interaction with a man walking dogs. The recording became a central piece of evidence because it placed the confrontation in view of nearby cameras and gave investigators a path from the crime scene to Elliott.

The investigation also led police to Elliott’s home. Prosecutors said officers found the gun used in the killing hidden in a motorboat parked in his garage. That discovery tied the weapon to the case and strengthened the prosecution’s account that Elliott brought a firearm into a dispute that had already turned tense months earlier. The charge of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony carried the added five-year sentence. The felony murder count was tied to the aggravated assault that prosecutors said caused Collins’ death. The case moved through Gwinnett County courts for more than five years before the sentence was announced in May 2026. Elliott had been 70 when he was arrested in 2021 and was 75 at sentencing. The delay meant jurors heard evidence about a killing that had remained part of local records for years, beginning with the first police notice of a man found shot near a dog park and ending with testimony about video, the recovered gun and the earlier metal-rod incident. Prosecutors said Assistant District Attorney Nam Nguyen and Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Ryan Smith handled the case with support from an investigator and a victim witness advocate.

Collins, a Lawrenceville resident, was 44 when he died. Police reports at the time said he had been found in a parking lot near Riverside Parkway, not far from McKendree Elementary School. The setting made the case stand out in the neighborhood because the shooting happened in a public area linked with routine dog walking, not during a home invasion or robbery. Officials described the dispute as one that grew from contact between neighbors, but they did not say the puppies were injured in the fatal encounter.

The sentence leaves Elliott facing life in prison, though the judge allowed the possibility of parole under Georgia procedures. Austin-Gatson said her office hoped the outcome would bring Collins’ friends and loved ones closure and a sense that justice had prevailed. The public record does not show whether Elliott plans to appeal. Any appeal would move the case from the trial court record into the state appellate process, where his lawyers could challenge the conviction or sentence.

For now, the case stands as a Gwinnett County murder conviction built around a brief outdoor encounter, an earlier dispute over puppies and evidence pulled from cameras and a garage. Elliott’s next milestone will be set by post-trial filings or the state prison system after his transfer into custody.

Author note: Last updated June 1, 2026.