Parents and students at a Clayton County high school were mourning Monday a teacher killed in an apparent murder-suicide.

Atlanta police officers responding to a burglary call at the Deerwood Reserve complex in southwest Atlanta on Saturday morning found Lashante Holloway, 33, of Atlanta, and Dwayne Brooks, 38, of New Orleans, dead from gunshot wounds. A weapon was recovered nearby.

Authorities believe Brooks killed Holloway, a mother of two and a special education teacher at North Clayton High School, before turning the gun on himself.

Outside the school on Monday, parent Shatika Andrews told Channel 2 Action News that Holloway was “a very beautiful person inside and out.

“I am so happy to have gotten to know her. A lot of teachers do not care, but she was one that absolutely truly cared.”

An Atlanta police spokesman said that, during the incident, Brooks sent two girls, ages 15 and 2, outside after he broke through a glass door to gain access into the residence.

Channel 2 described Brooks as Holloway’s ex-boyfriend and the father of the younger girl, and Holloway’s father told the station that his daughter met Brooks while she was in graduate school in New Orleans.

Neighbors told Channel 2 that Brooks was upset that Holloway had a new boyfriend.

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Law enforcement officers ride in a vehicle down Houston Mill Road after an active shooter was reported in the area of Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, August 8, 2025. (Jenni Girtman for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)