Alameda sheriff’s office: Man killed woman after cops set up perimeter around home

SAN LEANDRO — A San Leandro man allegedly pistol-whipped a woman and held her against her will in his home, then fatally shot her as sheriff’s deputies were setting up a perimeter outside in anticipation of a standoff, authorities said.

Now, 54-year-old Carlos Smith, of San Leandro, has been charged with murder, making criminal threats and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He remains in Dublin’s Santa Rita Jail on a no-bail hold, court records show.

The victim has been identified in court documents as Gina Minerva Love. Her age and city of residence were not immediately available.

Love was shot and killed at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 13, at an apartment in the 16000 block of Foothill Boulevard, authorities said. Deputies with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office had already been called to the apartment building for reports of Smith allegedly beating Love with the butt of a gun and forcibly keeping her at the apartment, police said.

Authorities were able to contact both Smith and Love by telephone, where Smith threatened to kill her and Love said she was injured. As deputies set up a perimeter around the apartment complex, they heard a gunshot and rushed inside, where Love was found suffering from a fatal gunshot wound, police said.

Smith was detained and made “multiple spontaneous statements and unprompted admissions related to shooting the victim,” investigators said in court records.

Police have described the homicide as being the result of a domestic dispute, but have not revealed the nature of Smith and Love’s relationship or the exact motive.

Staff writer Jakob Rodgers contributed reporting