In a tragic turn of events stemming from a road rage incident, 23-year-old Eric Alonza Stone Jr. of Austell, Georgia, was fatally shot on August 6, 2021. The incident occurred at the Premier Apartments near Austell, where Cobb County police responded to reports of gunfire and a vehicle that had crashed into a gate. Upon their arrival, officers discovered Stone in the driver's seat of the vehicle with a single gunshot wound to his head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into the shooting quickly pointed to 37-year-old Sony Lebrun as a suspect. Witnesses at the scene indicated that Lebrun and Stone had been involved in an ongoing dispute that originated from a road rage altercation. This information provided a crucial lead for law enforcement, who then began the task of locating Lebrun. For six weeks, Lebrun remained at large, eluding capture. The search for him concluded with his arrest at the Atlanta airport.
Following his apprehension, Sony Lebrun was charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Prosecutors built a compelling case against him, utilizing GPS data from his phone that placed him at the scene of the crime. This digital evidence was further corroborated by surveillance footage from multiple nearby locations, which confirmed his presence during the time of the shooting.
In February 2024, a Cobb County jury found Sony Lebrun guilty of the charges brought against him. For his role in the death of Eric Stone, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, with an additional 10 years to be served. The conviction brought a measure of closure to a case that began with a senseless act of violence and ended with the perpetrator being brought to justice.
