Antonio Mari: Funeral For Slain Attorney Set For June 24

CARTERSVILLE, GA — The funeral service to honor the beloved Cartersville attorney who was shot and killed in his law office will be held Sunday, and the Bartow County Bar Association is hoping the community will come together and provide their colleague with a proper send-off.

The family of Antonio Benjamin Mari will hold the service at 4 p.m. June 24 at Owen Funeral Home, according to his death notice. Visitation is scheduled to be held from 2 p.m. until the funeral hour at the facility, his obituary notes.

A GoFundMe account has been created by the Bartow County Bar Association to help Mari's family pay for the funeral. As of late Friday morning, a little more than $10,000 has been donated to the fundraiser aiming to raise $15,000.

"To know Antonio was to love Antonio," the association said.

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Antonio Mari was killed inside his office on Tennessee Street Wednesday afternoon. The suspected shooter, identified as Walter Radford, was found dead later in the day from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a home on Willow Bend Drive in unincorporated Cartersville, Cartersville police previously told Patch.

Officers were dispatched to Mari's office at 605 North Tennessee Street around 1:37 p.m. June 20. They arrived to find the attorney had been shot several times. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Bartow County Coroner Joel Guyton.

Cartersville police spokesperson Lt. Mike Bettikofer said the initial call to the Bartow County 9-1-1 dispatch center came from Radford's recently divorced wife.

"Mr. Radford called his ex-wife to notify her of the homicide immediately after while fleeing the scene," Bettikofer added.

Cartersville police detectives continued the investigation and with the help of the Bartow County Sheriff's Office, located a pickup truck Radford used as a getaway vehicle at a home at 68 Willow Bend Drive.

Officers and sheriff's deputies forced entry into the house around 2:40 p.m. Wednesday and found Radford dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police told Patch. Bettikofer added the home on Willow Bend Drive belonged to Radford's ex-wife, and it appeared the house was "forcibly entered through the back door."

The obituary states Mari, 41, was born in Atlanta to Umberto Mari and Charlotte Driskell. He graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor's degree in Education and later received a master's degree in public administration from Kennesaw State University.

Mari began teaching at Cass High School in 2000 where he educated young minds on history and Advanced Placement European history. He also served as department head for Cass's Social Studies Department. While at Cass, he attended John Marshall University and eventually earned his juris doctorate. In 2011, Antonio opened The Law Office of Antonio Mari in Cartersville where he practiced family law.

"Antonio was a true lover of life and lived every day with absolute optimism and enthusiasm," the obituary adds. "He excelled in everything he set out to achieve and failure was never an option."

Mari was preceded in death by his grandparents, R.L. and Syble Driskell. He is survived by his father, Umberto (Kathi) Mari; his mother, Charlotte Driskell; his wife, Stephanie Mari; brother, Nicholas (Karen Kaiser) Mari; nieces, Isabella Mari and Emily Scholz; mother-in-law, Jerry Crumbley; nephews, Jeremy (Abby) Estes and William (DeenaLu) Davis; brother-in-law, Ian (Sherry) Doby; sister-in-law, Cyndi Davis; god-daughter, Brooke Anderson; god-sons, Micah and Issac Bone; two very precious fur babies, Chupa and Nola.

"Those that knew Antonio, will remember him always being a gentleman, always offering a smile and a warm hello and his glowing positive attitude," the obituary said. "He is already missed, but will never be forgotten."

You can click here to make a donation to help cover Mari's funeral costs. In lieu of flowers, you can also make a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Image via GoFundMe, a Patch partner