By Khalida Sarwari
A 61-year-old man was booked today on murder and assault with a deadly weapon charges for fatally shooting his neighbor and stabbing another woman at a San Jose apartment building Wednesday night, a police spokesman said.
Robert Lee Turner, of San Jose, is suspected of shooting Verna Lisa Hollins, 48, shortly before 10 p.m. at a two-story apartment complex in the 2100 block of Rexford Way, Officer Jose Garcia said.
The building is just south of San Jose City College.
Hollins was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Prior to the shooting, police say Turner stabbed another woman, also 48, in the stomach. She was in stable condition this afternoon at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Joy Alexiou said.
After she was stabbed, the victim went to Hollins’ apartment, which was two doors down from Turner’s, and knocked on her door, Garcia said.
Turner, meanwhile, retrieved a gun from his apartment and went to Hollins’ unit, Garcia said.
When Hollins opened the door, he allegedly shot her point-blank in the torso and then returned to his apartment, according to Garcia.
All three people knew each other, Garcia said. The crime appears to have stemmed from a dispute of some sort, although it’s unclear how the argument began, Garcia said.
“There might have been some type of conflict in the past” between Hollins and Turner, he said.
Garcia said he does not know if the stabbing victim lives in the building, but he said she might have been visiting Hollins. When officers responded, they found her sitting on a curb across the street.
Officers confronted Turner on their way to Hollins’ apartment and took him into custody. They searched his apartment and recovered a knife and gun, Garcia said. No one else was found inside his apartment, and it appears he acted alone, Garcia said.
Police interviewed him this morning prior to booking him at Santa Clara County’s main jail.