Shooting on Tamassee Lane results in fatality

Police say the incident started as a domestic dispute.

Rome police are investigating a fatal shooting that happened about 6:20 p.m. at an apartment complex on Tamassee Lane.

According to Assistant Police Chief Debbie Burnett and scanner traffic:

The incident started as a domestic dispute. The victim, a 25-year-old man whose name was being withheld pending notification of his family, ran and the suspect — Demonte Penn, 26 — shot himintheback.

Radio dispatches from the 911 Center indicated Penn may have called to say he shot his boyfriend and would be waiting for police. Officers found the two next to the West Rome Walmart, 2510 Redmond Circle, on a walking trail that leads from the Tamassee Lane complexes.

Burnett said Penn was taken into custody without incident. A gun was also recovered.

Reports from the scene were that the victim was unresponsive but had a faint pulse. He was taken to Floyd Medical Center. Deputy Coroner Brent Whatley said at 8 p.m. he had been called to the hospital but could provide no further information at the time.

Investigators were gathering evidence and witness statements late Wednesday at the apartment complex and the site at Walmart near the garden center where the men were found.

Dispatchers told police that the first callers reported hearing six gunshots.