GRAYSON, Ga. — A detective testified Friday that the man accused in a Grayson bar shooting was urged by his own friends to drop the gun before he fired, hitting a bystander who had no part in the dispute.
Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson said Gwinnett County police detective testified Friday that the argument behind the shooting traced back to inside the bar.
Each man told investigators a different version of how the dispute began.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
“Both had mentioned that it was over women in the bar, although they have different stories regarding the women,” Detective William Merkley said.
Steven Brown and another man had been drinking at Moonshiners Bar and Grill on Moon Road for hours, Gwinnett County police say, when an argument inside turned into a fight in the parking lot. The crowd pulled the two apart.
But the detective said Brown went back to a pickup truck for a gun, still fixed on the man he had been fighting.
One of Brown’s friends stepped in at around midnight on May 22 when he saw what was about to happen, police said.
“He saw the defendant with the gun and walked him back to the truck telling him, ‘You can’t get in trouble,’” Merkley testified. “‘You’re not supposed to have a gun. I don’t want you to jeopardize you being in drug court.’”
Merkley said Brown got in the truck anyway, rolled down the back window as it pulled away, and fired four shots toward the patio. One hit Shaun Outar in the neck.
“The next thing we know I heard a pop, I looked down and noticed that blood was coming from my neck and I fell,” Outar said.
Merkley testified the bullet nicked Outar’s carotid artery, broke two vertebrae in his neck and traveled down into his ribs.
“My carotid vein was nicked, so there’s a lot of alternate scenarios that could have happened other than us talking right now,” Outar said.
Merkley testified investigators used cell phone data to track Brown’s phone to a home in DeKalb County and then to his own address in Snellville, where SWAT was waiting and arrested him later that day on outstanding warrants.
A search of the home turned up three guns, including a stolen Ruger 9 millimeter that Merkley said test-fired as a match to the shell casings on Moon Road, according to testimony.
The judge allowed the case to proceed on Friday.
Brown, 34, will remain in jail without bond facing charges including three counts of aggravated assault, aggravated battery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Two weeks later, Outar is still recovering from a bullet meant for someone else, fired over an argument he wasn’t part of.
“Bringing random strangers into the situation, I don’t understand,” Outar said. “It just doesn’t. Crazy times.”
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
TRENDING STORIES:
- Postal worker dies at troubled metro Atlanta facility; USPS to provide counseling
- 102 pounds of marijuana found hidden in cardboard boxes during Georgia traffic stop
- Recall alert: Gas-X Extra Strength Softgels recalled due to potential contamination
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2026 Cox Media Group
