A fight that began at Cowboys nightclub in Statesboro, Georgia, on the night of September 14–15, 2019, ended with the death of 27-year-old Dexter L. Dunbar II. After crowd control at the club with pepper spray, Dunbar, his sister and friends went to an apartment at the Stadium Walk complex on Lanier Drive, where they encountered two other men from Sylvania, Brendyn Laroy Carter and Thomas Isreal Cooper. Witnesses said Cooper brandished a .40-caliber pistol and kept Dunbar’s group from leaving until Carter arrived. A brief exchange of punches followed between Carter and Dunbar, then Cooper approached and shot Dunbar in the parking lot. A Bulloch County deputy provided aid until paramedics arrived, but Dunbar was pronounced dead at East Georgia Regional Medical Center.

Statesboro police, nearby investigating another incident, heard the shots and arrested Carter, then 22, and Cooper, then 20, at about 1:47 a.m. Both were charged with murder and held in the Bulloch County Jail. At the Bulloch County Superior Court trial in October 2021, the jury convicted Thomas Isreal Cooper of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony; Brendyn Laroy Carter was acquitted of all charges.