Police have reported that the man suspected of killing a 17-year-old Rome man has been captured.

According to federal law enforcement officials:

John Talley Winston III was arrested in Rex, Georgia by the U.S. Marshall's Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force and Clayton County Sheriff's Office picked him up at a location on Valdez Street at about 2:30 p.m. They did not find the gun believed to be used in Clowers slaying.

Posted May 24

Police have issued warrants for John Talley Winston III in connection with a fatal shooting early Sunday that left 17-year-old Marlo S. Clowers Jr. dead.

Warrants were obtained charging Winston with murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

Police advised that people with knowledge of Winston’s whereabouts should contact 911.

According to Rome police reports, Clowers was shot at the Scottish Inn, 1105 Martha Berry

Blvd. Officers were dispatched at 12:09 a.m. to the area of the Relax Inn to a call of shots fired. The two motels are across the street from each other.

As officers approached the scene, they saw a

group of men in the area of the Scottish Inn and saw Clowers on the ground near the entrance to the Relax Inn. He had sustained gunshot wounds to the arm and upper back.

A witness told officers that he was preparing to turn into the Relax Inn when Clowers came running from the Scottish Inn and fell across the hood of the witness’s

car, shouting that he had been shot.

An ambulance was immediately dispatched to the scene and carried Clowers to Floyd Medical Center. Deputy Coronor Gene Proctor said he went into cardiac arrest soon afterward and died.

Rome Police Capt. Terry Autry said investigators reviewed video from a motel security camera and talked with possible witnesses.

Posted May 23

The teen shot and killed at a Rome motel was a loving young man who fell in with a bad crowd, family members said Monday.

Rome police are continuing to investigate the death of 17-year-old Marlo S. Clowers Jr., who went into cardiac arrest early Sunday morning after he was shot at the Scottish Inn, 1105 Martha Berry Blvd.

“I love him. I pray he is in heaven,” said his mother, Tina Clowers, using American Sign Language.

Marlo Clowers was not deaf, but both his mother and father are, said his aunt, Stephanie Clowers. She said the couple, now married 23 years, met at Georgia School for the Deaf but they could not care for their son and he was adopted by his grandmother in Rockmart.

Two years ago, Marlo Jr. moved back to live with his mother in Rome, but “Tina couldn’t give him the supervision he needed,” Stephanie Clowers said.

“He came from a broken family, but he was a very energetic, pleasant, loving young man,” Stephanie Clowers said. “He was my baby, my angel. It wasn’t right for someone to do that to him.”

The family is banding together to make sure Marlo Jr. has a proper funeral and that his killing does not go unpunished.

“Things happen. You get caught up in it, but he didn’t deserve to die like that,” said his cousin, Georgia Jones. “This is gut-wrenching for us.”

Rome Police Capt. Terry Autry said investigators are reviewing video from a security camera at the motel and talking with possible witnesses.

Posted Sunday May 22

Police were searching late Sunday for a suspect after a 17-year-old Rome man died from gunshot wounds early Sunday morning.

Deputy Coroner Gene Proctor identified the victim as Marlo S. Clowers Jr., 17, of 312 S. McLin St.

According to Rome police reports, Clowers was shot at the Scottish Inn, 1105 Martha Berry Blvd. Officers were dispatched at 12:09 a.m. to the area of the Relax Inn to a call of shots fired. The two motels are across the street from each other.

As officers approached the scene, they saw a group of men in the area of the Scottish Inn and saw Clowers on the ground near the entrance to the Relax Inn. He had sustained gunshot wounds to the arm and upper back.

A witness told officers that he was preparing to turn into the Relax Inn when Clowers came running from the Scottish Inn and fell across the hood of the witness’s car, shouting that he had been shot.

An ambulance was immediately dispatched to the scene and carried Clowers to Floyd Medical Center. Proctor said he went into cardiac arrest soon afterward and died.

Police at the scene continued to speak with several other men who had gathered at the scene and learned from management at the Scottish Inn that a security camera may have been able to provide some assistance to the investigation.

Rome Police Chief Elaine Snow confirmed that police had the tape and that detectives were reviewing it for information that might assist in the identification of the shooter.

Capt. Terry Autry, a Rome detective, said the videotape did show a lot of commotion in the area of the room where the situation started.

“You can’t tell who they are or what they’re doing other than they are running from the room,” Autry said.

“It’s hard to say a surveillance tape was good, but it’s better than nothing at all,” Lt. Paul Greene said.

Autry said police do have a couple of names of people they intend to talk to in an attempt to pinpoint the identity of a shooter.

He said they do not know for sure what caused the shooting.