A 60-year-old woman was stabbed in an apparent family conflict at a Berkeley hills home on Saturday, and two other people were injured in the attack, which police say was not random.
The incident happened on Saturday around 12:30 p.m. at a home on the 1000 block of Overlook Road in Berkeley. There, as the Berkeley Scanner reports, 36-year-old Jonah Roper arrived and allegedly stabbed his 60-year-old mother multiple times. Neighbors reported hearing cries for help and a "blood-curdling scream," and neighbors also saw the suspect chase an older man out of the home as well. The man, who was injured, has been identified as Roper's stepfather.
Via a witness, the Berkeley Scanner learned that the man being chased was saying, "Why are you doing this? I didn't do anything to you."
Another woman, described as a neighbor, was also reportedly injured after the suspect entered her home and allegedly stabbed her.
As Berkeleyside reports, via Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Jessica Perry, Roper fled the scene in a car that didn't belong to him.
Roper was soon apprehended by police, who reportedly rammed his vehicle in the area of Ninth and Gilman streets, near the Whole Foods. He was arrested at 12:45 p.m. Saturday, per the Berkeley Scanner.
Neighbor Mardi Sicular tells the East Bay Times that the woman who was killed was "a beautiful person, beloved, kind, generous … an angel of a neighbor... We're all devastated."
This was Berkeley's first homicide of 2023.
Photo: Google Street View