Lawrenceville man sentenced for killing wife, son-in-law in 2022 shooting
Bernie Mack (Gwinnett County Sheriffs Office)
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - A Lawrenceville man was convicted Friday for shooting and killing family members in a 2022 dispute that escalated to a shootout in the Harbor Bay neighborhood, according to the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office.
A Gwinnett County jury found Bernie Ray Mack, 63, guilty of malice murder, voluntary manslaughter, two counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of gun possession during the commission of a felony for the 2022 shooting deaths of Bridget Pearl Brooks-Mack and Jeremy Roshawn Santos.
On May 5, 2022, Gwinnett County Police responded to an active shooter call at the intersection of Harbor Bay Drive and Chandler Road in Lawrenceville. A dispute from days earlier involving Mack, his wife Brooks-Mack, Mack’s stepdaughter Briana Santos, and her husband Jeremy Santos had spilled over and resulted in Mack shooting his spouse at their home.
Authorities said Mack fled the home, and Briana and Jeremy Santos arrived to find Briana’s mother dead inside. As the couple called the police and drove away from the home with their children in the car, they passed Mack returning to the neighborhood in his vehicle. Jeremy Santos, who was armed with a handgun, fired at Mack’s car.
The home where a woman was killed during a violent domestic dispute in a Lawrenceville-area subdivision on May 5, 2022. (FOX 5)
Mack turned his car around to chase the Santos vehicle, and Jeremy Santos left the vehicle to flee on foot from Mack’s car. At the front of the neighborhood, Mack departed his car and chased Jeremy Santos shooting, while Jeremy Santos returned fire as he fled. Witnesses saw Mack shoot Jeremy Santos at least six times, as Briana Santos drove away. An onlooking neighbor convinced Mack to stop and relinquish his weapon. Mack remained on the scene until police officers arrived and arrested him.
Mack was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 30 years.