Erin Edwards, a summer intern at NBC 4 New York, was found dead Wednesday night after an apparent murder-suicide, the TV station reported.
Erin, 20, and her brother Christopher Edwards, 24, were both fatally shot inside their Atlanta-area home, authorities said. Their mother, Marsha Edwards, is suspected of killing the two before taking her own life.
Erin spent the summer interning on NBC New York’s digital team while she was on break from Boston University.
“All of us in the newsroom just shocked to hear this news,” anchor Stefan Holt said on air Thursday. “Erin was a special person — exuberant, cheerful, a gifted story teller who just had a passion for journalism and it showed.”
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Erin was a junior in Boston U’s College of Communication, according to an article on the school’s website.
“Her smile lit up a room and her energy was contagious,” associate professor Nancy Lowenstein said.
Christopher was a digital content manager for the City of Atlanta and worked in the Mayor’s Office of Entertainment, according to local NBC affiliate WXIA.
Cobb County police discovered the bodies during a welfare check in Vinings, Georgia, north of downtown Atlanta.
Police told WXIA that Erin and Chris died of gunshot wounds, and Marsha died of “an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Marsha, 58, founded a medical equipment supply company called MME Enterprises. Her ex-husband and the children’s father, Dr. Chris Edwards, is a prominent Atlanta surgeon.
On the day of the shooting, Marsha posted a photo album on Instagram saying she enjoyed spending the summer with her children. Her Instagram page was filled with photos of the family.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzWlKeOhNRe/
The family attended the National Association of Black Journalists annual conference earlier this month in Miami, and Marsha documented her visit to the convention on social media.
NABJ President Dorothy M. Tucker issued a statement Thursday offering the family condolences.
“The #NABJ family has lost three of our own. Our prayers and thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of Marsha Edwards, Christopher Edwards II and Erin Edwards,” Tucker tweeted. “This tragedy has claimed the lives of three members, but touches countless more.”
