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BU student killed in apparent murder-suicide in Georgia

Erin V. Edwards. Facebook

A Boston University student was fatally shot in an apparent murder-suicide involving two other people this week at her home outside Atlanta, officials said.

Erin V. Edwards, 20, a rising junior in BU’s College of Communication, was found dead alongside her brother, Christopher Edwards, 24, the university reported Thursday night.

The Cobb County Police Department also identified the victims in a statement posted to its website.

Marsha Edwards, 58, who is believed to be their mother, was identified as the suspect. “The suspect was also deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,” police said.

Cobb County police say all three bodies were found around 6 p.m. Wednesday inside a town house in the Vinings area, just northwest of Atlanta, according to the Associated Press.

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Police had responded to the home for a welfare check. “Upon arrival, officers located three deceased inside the residence,” police said in the statement. Police are investigating. Anyone with information is asked to contact Cobb County police at 770-499-3945.

Boston University mourned Erin Edwards, a member of the class of 2021, in an obituary posted on BU Today Thursday night.

From left to right: Christopher Edwards, Marsha Edwards, and Erin V. Edwards. Facebook

Dean of students Kenneth Elmore called Edwards’s death “a great loss for this community.”

“It is sad that we are facing such a tragedy. It remains as important as ever to reach out to each other and extend the grace, dignity, and energy Erin gave us,” he said.

Edwards was a Posse scholar, studying journalism, film and television, and African American studies, the obituary said.

Cobb County police said all three bodies were found around 6 p.m. Wednesday inside a town house (above) in the Vinings area, just northwest of Atlanta,John Spink/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AJC

Posse scholars are “students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential,” who are awarded full tuition to BU, according to the university’s website.

In a statement to BU Today, Edwards’s fellow Posse scholars described her as a keen listener and storyteller. “She would listen to her friends’ and family’s stories the same as a stranger’s, with thoughtfulness and sincerity.”

Edwards recently completed a summer internship at NBC New York, posting a thank-you on Instagram on Aug. 10 to everyone she’d worked with and those who “shared their stories with me this summer.”

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The NBC station’s vice president, Benjamin Berkowitz, made a statement about Edwards, calling her a “gifted storyteller with a passion for her work.”

“Her enthusiasm was infectious and her smile lit up a room,” Berkowitz said. “She was an incredibly decent, kind person who earned our admiration. Her talent was truly God-given.”

At BU, Edwards was editor-in-chief of Charcoal, a student magazine that celebrates artists of color. She was also a reporter for the Daily Free Press, the student newspaper; a DJ on WTBU radio; and a staff member on BUTV10, the campus television station, according to the obituary.

Edwards was set to return to campus on Aug. 26. She had been selected as an ambassador for the Thurman Center for Common Ground, which brings together people of all backgrounds on campus.

“Common ground, to me, means that even though we all come from different places, races, orientations, religions, and backgrounds and we all possess different interests, ideologies, and talents, there is more that connects us than separates us,” she wrote in her application. “Like Maya Angelou says in one of my favorite poems, ‘Human Family,’ ‘We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.’ ”

Services for Edwards are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 28, 11 a.m. at Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta.

Erin V. Edwards. Facebook

Sofia Saric can be reached at sofia.saric@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @sofia_saric.