A simmering argument at a party that stretched from a Saturday night into the following Sunday morning in a Brookhaven apartment culminated in a burst of violence that left one man dead and three others wounded. Jose Manuel Ozuna-Ruiz, a 44-year-old Hispanic man, was fatally shot and pronounced dead at the scene inside the apartment on Buford Highway on January 22, 2023.
The deadly encounter is believed to have stemmed from a dispute between Ozuna-Ruiz and another man at the gathering.
Police were called to the apartment complex around 10:30 a.m. in response to a 911 call about multiple people being shot. Upon arrival, officers discovered a chaotic scene with four men suffering from gunshot wounds.
The suspected shooter was among the three men who were injured and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Despite his injuries, he was identified as the alleged perpetrator and was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault. His identity was not immediately made public by law enforcement as he had not yet been booked into the DeKalb County Jail due to his hospitalization. The other two injured men were not charged in the incident. Investigators recovered two firearms from within the apartment.
