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Written by: A. Smith
Published December 23, 2025 @ 9:55 AM ET
OCONEE COUNTY, Ga. – A former University of Georgia football player has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the fatal shooting of a RaceTrac clerk during an overnight shift in Oconee County.
Ahkil Crumpton, 28, was convicted Wednesday of felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the March 19, 2021, killing of Elijah Wood, 23. After about 38 minutes of deliberations, jurors returned guilty verdicts on all counts. Superior Court Judge Eric Norris imposed the maximum sentence Thursday. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
Prosecutors told jurors that Wood was working the graveyard shift at the RaceTrac around 1:15 a.m., filling in for a sick co-worker. Moments before the shooting, Wood was on a video call with his girlfriend, Jesi Jordan, casually passing time behind the counter.
According to the state, Crumpton waited outside the store dressed in black, his face covered and hood pulled up, armed with a Glock 19 with a round already chambered. Prosecutors said he waited for customers to leave, entered the store once Wood was alone and fired a single shot into Wood’s chest before fleeing without taking anything.
Jordan testified that she heard the gunshot over the video call, saw Wood’s shirt jerk and heard him struggling to breathe as he collapsed. Wood died minutes later.
“That is horrific,” special prosecutor Mike Morrison told jurors during closing arguments. “That deserves accountability.”
Prosecutors relied on surveillance footage from the store, Jordan’s testimony, cellphone photos and videos Crumpton took of himself with the firearm and clothing matching the shooter, and ballistic evidence linking the Glock to the crime scene. An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives testified that a shell casing recovered at the RaceTrac matched casings from a later shooting in Philadelphia involving Crumpton. That shooting was ruled justified, and no charges were filed.
Federal agents arrested Crumpton in Philadelphia in March 2022 on the Georgia murder warrant. During a search, agents recovered the Glock 19 from inside Crumpton’s 2018 Rose Bowl backpack, which prosecutors said tied him to both shootings.
The killing drew widespread attention as investigators eventually focused on Crumpton, who played for the Bulldogs during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Juwan Taylor, Crumpton’s former UGA teammate and roommate at the time, testified that Crumpton confessed to him shortly after the shooting.
Defense attorney Bruce Harvey attacked Taylor’s credibility, calling him a liar and pointing to earlier statements in which Taylor told authorities he knew nothing about the crime. Harvey argued much of the state’s case was circumstantial and said there was no direct identification of Crumpton as the shooter. The defense called no witnesses, and Crumpton did not testify.
Crumpton is already serving a 30-year federal prison sentence after being convicted in 2024 of attempted robbery and lying on a federal firearms form.