Convicted Road-Rage Shooter Sentenced In Man's Gwinnett Death

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — A 61-year-old man convicted of murder in the January 2022 road-rage shooting that killed a man at Rockbridge Road has been sentenced to life in prison, prosecutors said Thursday.

The Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office said Michael Charles Jackson, of DeKalb County, was convicted in the shooting death of Don Wardlaw, 46. The fatal shooting occurred on Jan. 27, 2022, the district attorney's office said.

Little details are known about the shooting.

Prosecutors accused Jackson of following Wardlaw's car in a pickup truck for an unknown reason before the shooting. Wardlaw made a U-turn to try to evade Jackson, prosecutors said.

Officers found Wardlaw's car after it crashed into a yard at Rockbridge, but before the crash, prosecutors said he suffered two fatal gunshot wounds.

A week later, Jackson was arrested on an outstanding Clayton County warrant during a traffic stop, prosecutors said. While searching his home, prosecutors said officers found a box and handgun magazines matching the weapon used in the shooting of Wardlaw.

Prosecutors added the Georgia Bureau of Investigation also found gunshot residue in Jackson's vehicle.

Jackson was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 15 years without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.

Rather than hiring a defense attorney, prosecutors said Jackson represented himself.

“It is unfortunate that the mere act of driving could lead to this murder,” Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in a news release. “We hope that Mr. Wardlaw’s family will begin to heal from this tragedy.”

Jackson was previously convicted of murder in 1987 in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and of disorderly conduct involving a firearm in 2016 in Rockdale County, prosecutors said.