Berkeley landlord charged with attempted murder in shooting of tenant

A Northern California landlord has been charged with trying to kill a tenant in the third such violent incident between renters and property owners in recent weeks in a region mired in an affordable housing crisis.

The Alameda County district attorney’s office charged Herman Levi Little, 75, with attempted murder last week for allegedly shooting Timothy Loving, 39, in the Berkeley apartment building where they lived.

Neither police nor prosecutors would discuss a possible motive.

Little shot Loving three times on June 13, police said.

Loving’s friend, Dottie Moore said Loving recently missed several rent payments for health reasons. But she says Loving told her the landlord said he was satisfied with a payment plan the two had worked out.

He lived in the apartment for five years and appeared to be on good terms with Little, she said.

“We don’t know why he shot Timothy,” said Moore. She said she visited him in the hospital Wednesday where he is expected to recover from his injuries.

Police recovered multiple guns and a homemade silencer from Little’s apartment, court records showed.

A judge ordered Little to hire a private attorney by Friday after ruling that he didn’t qualify for a public defender. Little is not yet represented by an attorney, court records show.

The shooting occurred in Berkeley, where affordable housing is scarce, part of the region-wide housing crunch that’s prompted public protests, tenant lawsuits and evictions.

On at least two occasions, an apparent rent dispute led to deadly violence.

In San Francisco, a 47-year-old woman was charged this month with killing and dismembering a roommate who wouldn’t move out of her home. Lisa Gonzales, 47, has pleaded not guilty to killing her 61-year-old tenant who was paying $400 a month for a room in a neighborhood where rents for a two-bedroom apartment average $4,000 a month.

In Mill Valley, Victor Aurelino Lugo, 71, killed himself on May 3 after fatally shooting his landlord’s daughter and wounding the landlord. Lugo was being evicted from his apartment, investigators said.

Paul Ellias is an Associated Press writer.