Oakland, CA: Cal State University students die in murder-suicide; woman stabbed to death

By Harry Harris and Angela Hill
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 10/08/2009 07:54:22 AM PDT
Updated: 10/08/2009 11:36:50 AM PDT

OAKLAND — Police are investigating the deaths of three people in separate incidents in East Oakland this morning, including a possible murder-suicide and an unrelated murder.
All the deaths are believed to be related to domestic disputes, police said.
At about 5:15 a.m., a woman was stabbed to death inside a residence in the 4500 block of Penniman Avenue near High Street, police said.
Police said the suspect, the woman's 51-year-old husband, ran out of the home, flagged down a passing security guard and surrendered. The guard then turned the man over to Oakland police. Their names have not been released.
In a separate incident, an apparent murder-suicide, Eric Hicks, 23, a student at Cal State University East Bay, drove with a 19-year-old woman believed to be his girlfriend to a relative's apartment building on the corner of 84th Avenue and International Boulevard.
He pulled into the driveway, the two struggled in the car and the woman was shot to death, police said.
Hicks then went inside the relative's apartment and apparently shot and killed himself, police said.
The woman, whose name was not released, is also believed to be a student at the university, where she lived in the dorms. Police say the two had known each other for several months.
Hicks also worked at Oakland International Airport refueling airplanes, police said, and had previously played football at Bakersfield Junior College on the
Bakersfield Renegades.
The killings mark Oakland's 87th and 88th homicides of the year. There were 105 homicides at this time last year.