In the city of Rome, Georgia, a domestic disturbance at a home on Shadowbrook Drive on Saturday, March 4, 2023, ended in tragedy. Fifty-one-year-old Iris Dail Edwards, a woman from Woodstock, was found in the backyard of the residence with a single gunshot wound to her chest. Another woman at the scene attempted to perform life-saving measures, but her efforts were in vain. Emergency officials pronounced Ms. Edwards dead at the scene.
Responding officers from the Rome Police Department were met by twenty-one-year-old Ellis Geoffrey Marrs, who informed them that he had just shot someone. The weapon used in the shooting was recovered by police on top of a grill in the backyard, with its magazine ejected. The initial investigation revealed that the shooting stemmed from a domestic altercation. It was reported that Marrs was attempting to intervene in a dispute involving his father and Ms. Edwards, who was his father's girlfriend. Reports also indicated that alcohol was a factor in the initial incident.
Ellis Geoffrey Marrs was taken into custody at the scene and lodged in the Floyd County Jail. He was initially charged with murder. An additional charge of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime was later filed against him. During a subsequent court appearance, Marrs' attorney claimed that his client had acted in self-defense. However, a Floyd County Superior Court judge denied bond for Marrs, citing him as a potential flight risk.
