Residents Shaken by Murder at Leisure World : Crime: Many say the death of a retiree in the gated, private community in Seal Beach has raised questions about security.

News of the strangulation of a 66-year-old Leisure World resident has left neighbors at this private retirement community shaken and feeling more vulnerable to crime than ever before, many of them said Saturday.

How, they asked themselves, could two Long Beach men later arrested on suspicion of murdering Thomas D. Turner get past the gated entrance and onto the grounds where 9,000 senior citizens live?

“I can’t stop thinking about it,” said Rosanna Stein, 69. “I’m shocked. How could this happen? How did it happen? We’re supposed to have total security here, but it’s somewhat of a myth.”

Turner, described as a friendly, outgoing retired landscape architect, was found dead Thursday afternoon by a neighbor inside his apartment. Turner’s daughter had sent the neighbor to check on him because he did not answer the phone that morning.

Two suspects, Javier G. Gonzales, 20, and Carlos V. Martinez, 37, were arrested Thursday night after Long Beach police spotted one of them driving Turner’s Ford Thunderbird near 23rd Street and Locust Avenue. They are being held without bail at Orange County Jail.

Police said they do not have a motive for Turner’s killing and could not elaborate on the investigation. “We’re still re-interviewing both suspects to get a reason,” said Sgt. Michael Vasquez.

Neighbors, however, said they believe Turner knew the men, possibly hiring them to plant 40 rose bushes he purchased as a project for the Leisure World gardening club.

“It doesn’t seem right that they had access to his apartment,” said Selma Henry, 85, a Leisure World resident for 24 years.

Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, agreed. “There’s a great possibility that he had lined up help,” she said. “He said he knew someone who would help to do the digging in and planting.

“It does put us on edge, “ she said of the killing. “I personally feel different than I did three days ago. Crews of gardeners, hundreds of people a day, come in here and we have no way of knowing if they all leave.”

Typically, the only way outsiders can get inside Leisure World is if they are contracted maintenance workers or if a resident leaves their names with security officers at the entrance gate.

“We don’t know how they got in,” Leisure World security chief Edward Valenzuela said of the two men.

Turner, a World War II veteran and widower with two daughters, was known to complain openly to Leisure World’s board of directors about a lack of security at the entrance gate during early morning hours.

He was “highly esteemed” within the community, said neighbor Howard Fox, 73. Turner recently underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery, but still found time to visit his neighbors at the hospital whenever they became ill, Fox said.