A Snellville man was killed while trying to assault another man Saturday evening, Gwinnett County police said.

Officers responded to the area of Golfe Links Drive in unincorporated Snellville shortly after 6:45 p.m. and found 22-year-old Avery Nowlin dead in the street, police said in a news release.

The investigation later revealed the incident began when Nowlin, armed with a weapon, approached another 22-year-old man who was sitting in a car in the parking lot of a neighborhood, according to the release. Nowlin initiated a fight with the other man, who then fired his gun and struck Nowlin, police said.

It’s not clear what type of weapon Nowlin had. The other man is not being charged at this time, police said.

“In the state of Georgia, ‘a person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that he or she reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to defend himself or herself or a third person against such other’s imminent use of unlawful force,’” police noted in the release.

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Angie McBrayer, ex-wife of James Aaron McBrayer, leans her head on her son Sam McBrayer as she and her three children and two grandchildren (from left) Jackson McBrayer, 3, Piper Jae McBrayer, 7, Katy Isaza, and Jordan McBrayer, visit the grave of James McBrayer, Thursday, November 20, 2025, in Tifton. He died after being restrained by Tift County sheriff's deputies on April 24, 2019. His ex-wife witnessed the arrest and said she thought the deputies were being rough but did not imagine that McBrayer would die. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC