One dead, one wounded in stabbings at senior high-rise

Shortly before 11 p.m. Monday, police said Otis went after Surry, 71, who escaped after a struggle with multiple stab wounds.

Then Otis turned his sights on Oliver’s apartment and “kicked my mother’s door in,” Oliver’s daughter, Ellen Hall Varner said, citing police reports.

Police found her dead in her bed with a deep gash to the back of her head, a cut under her left eye and several stab wounds to the chest.

Surry remains in stable condition at Grady Memorial Hospital, and Otis, who police said suffered non-life-threatening injuries, is under police custody at the hospital.

Atlanta police Capt. Tim Peek said officers “were able to apprehend the suspect near the scene and were able to recover two knives that did have blood on them.”

Otis, who police said is in his mid-60s, was charged with murder and aggravated assault.

Officials for Baptist Towers, the senior residence on Myrtle Drive in southwest Atlanta, said Oliver and Otis “had a relationship,” the extent of which was unknown.

Surry’s sister, Sandra Surry, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution her brother said he only knew his alleged assailant’s face from seeing him around the facility.

She said the two encountered each other Monday evening on the elevator, but no words were exchanged.

“When he got ready to get off the elevator, the man attacked him,” she said, recounting what her brother told her from his hospital bed. “He said he kicked him in his privates … that’s how he got away.”

Emmanuel Surry stays with his uncle Charles Surry and is a caretaker for the centenarian and the man’s younger, 95-year-old brother, she said.

“Uncle Charlie said he left the door open for Junior to come back last night, but he never did,” Sandra Surry said. “That man could’ve gone back in there and hurt my uncle.”

Varner said, citing police reports, that Otis, who lives on the fifth floor, left Surry on the seventh floor, then “went home, took a shower, changed clothes and stuff.”

“Immediately when you come in the door, her kitchen is to the right,” Varner said, describing her mother’s apartment, and again referred to police reports. “He got one of her butcher knives out of there and went in and started stabbing her. She was in bed.”

Peek said, “We’re unclear on the actual motive. We don’t know why the person chose to do whatever he did.”

The facility’s on-site security guard was apparently making rounds outside the tower when the stabbings occurred, Peek said.

Built in the early 1970s, Baptist Towers is one of Atlanta’s older senior living facilities. There are about 300 units in the 11-story building. A newer three-story building — it opened in November — stands next door with 100 units.

While there were some residents who expressed fear for their safety, few saw it as an indication that the gated community, with its coded entry and 24-hour security staff, is a dangerous place.

“I don’t feel any less safe,” resident Cleve Kates said. “It could happen anywhere.”

Elizabeth Gresham, though shocked by the incident, said it didn’t shatter the impression of safety and security about Baptist Towers that prompted her to move there earlier this month.

“This wasn’t random,” she said.

The complex, operated by National Church Residences of Upper Arlington, Ohio, since 2007, is described on the organization’s website as “an independent senior living community.”

The facility leases one-bedroom and studio apartments to residents age 55 and above, with rent ranging from $501 to $1,078 a month, according to the website.

National Church Residences spokeswoman Karen Twinem said the company requires a background check of all potential residents, including a check of criminal records and whether a person is registered as a sex offender.

Otis will be moved to the Fulton County Jail when he is released from the hospital. The investigation is ongoing.