In the late afternoon of November 28, 2015, the life of 20-year-old Nicolas Morales Garcia was cut short in the parking lot of the Esquire Apartments on Buford Highway in Brookhaven, a city in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Emergency services responded to multiple 911 calls regarding a person shot and discovered Garcia with a single gunshot wound. Despite attempts to revive him at the scene, he was pronounced dead.
The investigation into the shooting quickly pointed to a familial
dispute. Witnesses reported hearing an argument between two men shortly before the fatal shot was fired. Based on witness statements, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation released a forensic sketch of a person of interest. This led to the swift identification of a suspect: Carlos Eduardo Morales Gallardo, the victim's 20-year-old cousin. The shooting occurred on Gallardo's 20th birthday.
The motive behind the tragic event was a reported $400 debt that Garcia owed to his cousin. Following the shooting, Gallardo fled the scene and sought help from his mother in Covington. He confessed to the killing and asked for money to escape to Mexico. His mother, however, refused his request and urged him to take responsibility for his actions.
Gallardo was arrested and subsequently charged with murder and aggravated assault. Although he initially claimed the shooting was an accident, he later confessed to family members that he had shot his cousin over the debt. In a pre-trial hearing on July 6, 2017, Carlos Eduardo Morales-Gallardo, then 21, pleaded guilty to felony murder. A DeKalb County Superior Court judge sentenced him to life in prison for the death of his cousin, Nicolas Morales Garcia.
