Family: Buford shooting victims were couple

By Megan Matteucci and Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A couple found dead on the side of a Buford road had just started dating, family members said.

Margie Gibbs, 67, and Jimmy Watts, 53, were found lying next to a maroon Toyota Tacoma  shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday on West Rock Quarry Road near Thompson Mill Road. A handgun was found near the truck, Gwinnett Police spokesman Cpl. David Schiralli said.

Investigators said they are waiting for autopsies to be performed and trying to determine if anyone else was involved in the shootings.

Gibbs, a maid from Columbus, recently moved to the Atlanta area. She got a job cleaning several Buckhead office buildings and moved in with Watts, her daughter-in-law Laverne Baker said.

“She just moved in with the man,” Baker said Monday night. “My son talked to her Saturday and said ‘I don’t know about the guy that stays with grandmother. He just got out of jail and moved in with her.'”

Police said Watts lived in Tiger, in north Georgia near the North Carolina border. Gibbs leaves eight children, Baker said.

Police said they were still investigating the relationship of the victims.

On Saturday, a woman driving past saw the victims and called police.

"The caller advised police there were two people lying on the ground with blood on them," Schiralli said.

Watts was pronounced dead at the scene. Gibbs was alive when she was found. She was rushed to Gwinnett Medical Center, where she died from her wounds, police said.

Staff Reporter Larry Hartstein contributed to this report.