Family of woman shot at abused women’s shelter in Bankers Hill speaks out

BANKERS HILL (KUSI) — Disturbing details are emerging from a murder-suicide in Bankers Hill last Thursday.

A woman was killed by her ex-boyfriend while working at a shelter for abused women. Now her family wants to know how he got to her.

Arnisha Harris was a manager at a shelter, hoping to help women escaping abusive relationships.

It’s supposed to be a place of protection, yet her family claims her own abusive boyfriend was able to walk through the doors with a gun and kill her point blank.

Harris’s brother, Rayneil Etheridge, said that although Arnisha and Joseph Robinson had been together for 10 years, the influence of her new job at a women’s shelter for mentally ill, abused and homeless women, gave her the strength to walk away from what her family said was her own abusive relationship.

But the Big Sister League’s leadership may have put her at risk.

The gunfire in the 100 block of Redwood Street was reported about 3:15 p.m. Thursday, according to San Diego police.

Officers found the bodies of Harris, 35, and 44-year-old Joseph Henry Robinson alongside a pistol on the floor of an office at the transitional-housing facility, homicide Lt. Ray Valentin said.

Preliminary evidence indicated that Robinson shot his girlfriend and then himself, the lieutenant said.

Authorities disclosed no suspected motive for the shooting.