Shooter Gets Life After Admitting Killing Man, Wounding Another

MARIETTA, GA — A Riverdale man who confessed to shooting two men and killing one of them has pleaded guilty to murder and other charges and was sentenced to life in prison. On Wednesday, during the second day of testimony in his trial, Charon Brazzel, 29, pleaded guilty to murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and two firearms-possession charges.

A police investigation found just before 10 a.m. on Oct. 4, 2016, Brazzel and Carl Maurice McCline, 29, of Smyrna, drove to a residence in the Belmont Place Apartments on Windy Hill Road. Brazzel was armed with a Rohm RG .38 special revolver, and told McCline he needed a ride to buy marijuana. McCline sat on steps outside the residence while Brazzel went inside, where he shot and killed Ford and shot a second man twice, in the eye and arm. That victim then fled the apartment and called police.

McCline, meanwhile, ran to his vehicle at the sound of gunshots, followed quickly by Brazzel, and then drove to McCline’s home.

Police first caught up with McCline, who had Brazzel’s handgun with him. Police then interviewed McCline and other people on scene and determined Brazzel was the shooter. Brazzel was arrested three days later, on Oct. 7, which would have been Ford’s 26th birthday. Brazzel told detectives he went to the apartment with a plan to shoot Ford, to avenge an alleged wrong against his girlfriend and amid other disputes he had with Ford.