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Lawrenceville man sentenced to life for killing neighbor walking dogs

Published  May 7, 2026 9:25pm EDT
Lawrenceville
FOX 5 Atlanta
article

Stanley Nathaniel Elliott (Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office)

The Brief

    • A 75-year-old Lawrenceville man was sentenced to life in prison for the 2021 shooting death of Anthony Collins during a dispute over the victim's puppies.
    • Jurors viewed surveillance footage of the deadly encounter on Riverside Parkway, which followed a previous December 2020 incident where the shooter tried to hit the dogs with a metal rod.
    • Gwinnett County police identified the killer through video and later found the murder weapon hidden inside a motorboat in his garage.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - A Lawrenceville man will spend the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty of killing a neighbor who was walking his puppies.

Gwinnett County murder trial

What we know:

Stanley Nathaniel Elliott, 75, was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. A judge sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole, plus five years, for the death of 44-year-old Anthony Collins.

The shooting happened on the afternoon of Feb. 25, 2021, while Collins was walking his Jack Russell puppies in a neighborhood on Riverside Parkway. Gwinnett County police used video footage to identify Elliott and later found the gun used in the killing hidden in a motorboat in his garage.

Previous neighborhood dispute

The backstory:

Evidence presented during the trial showed the two men had a run-in months before the shooting. In December 2020, Elliott reportedly tried to hit Collins' puppies with a metal rod he carried to ward off stray dogs.

The Gwinnett County Police Department released this image of a person of interest who was walking in the neighborhood near a murder scene along Riverside Parkway on Feb. 25, 2021. (Gwinnett County Police Department)

The jury also watched surveillance video from the day of the killing. The footage showed a man who looked like Elliott raising his arm to shoot after a brief interaction with a man walking dogs.

Legal proceedings and investigation

What we don't know:

While the jury saw video of the interaction, the specific words exchanged during the fatal argument were not detailed in the report. It is also unclear if Elliott plan to appeal the life sentence.

District attorney response

What they're saying:

"Violence – and especially deadly violence – is not the answer for solving any dispute," District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. She expressed hope that the guilty verdict provides the victim’s loved ones with closure and a sense of justice.

The Source: The information in this story was gathered from a press release from the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office, which detailed the trial evidence and the final sentencing.

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