Victim in Anaheim Shooting Is Identified

A woman who was fatally shot in an apparent murder-suicide was identified Friday as Linda Uyematsu, a 51-year-old occupational therapist who apparently was trying to help the man believed to be her killer.

Uyematsu and the man were two of four people who died in violence in Anaheim on Thursday.

The name of the 49-year-old man who allegedly shot Uyematsu before turning the gun on himself was not released, pending notification of his family.

The shootings occurred Thursday afternoon at Uyematsu’s home on Columbus Drive. Police said Uyematsu staggered to a next-door neighbor for help and died near the front door. The man’s body was found face down in a backyard swimming pool, along with a handgun.

“We still don’t know exactly what happened,” Police Sgt. Steve Rodig said. “We’re still in the process of trying to determine that.”

Uyematsu’s relatives described her as a kind woman who began sharing her home with the man following her divorce last year from her husband of 25 years.

“She met him about a year ago and was sort of helping him,” said Grace Uyematsu, the victim’s mother-in-law. “It’s such a shame. . . . I’m very saddened and shocked.”

Grace Uyematsu said her daughter-in-law had agreed to let the man stay at her home because he was having financial problems. “He was recovering from some sort of a mental problem,” she said. “I think he must have snapped.”

She said she did not learn about the deaths until Friday morning, after a nephew read about it and called her.

In an unrelated fatal shooting that also occurred Thursday in Anaheim, a 24-year-old man gunned down by an unknown assailant was identified as Michael Brooks of Long Beach. He was found lying in front of an apartment house in the 1100 block of Fay Lane. Brooks died at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

Investigators were questioning the residents of the apartment house and continuing a search for evidence. A motive for the shooting has not been determined.

In a third shooting in Anaheim, arraignment was scheduled for Tuesday for Kathleen Straits, 60, who was arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of a 56-year-old man was found in the apartment they shared in the 1400 block of West North Street.

Michael Williams, a machinist who lost his job when his employer went out of business, died early Thursday from at least one gunshot wound, police said.

The pair had decided to be roommates about six months ago. Neighbors said they believe Straits was defending herself against Williams, who allegedly physically and emotionally abused her.

Straits was in the apartment when police arrived and is being held at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.