Slayings of Couple Baffle Families and Police

The parents of Renesha Fuller and Edward Robinson can’t stop repeating the phrase like a mantra:

They were good kids.

And they were in love.

Renesha, 21, and Edward, 22, were saying good night Oct. 29 after spending the day together. It was about 11:30 p.m. and Edward was lingering at Renesha’s car, parked just outside his Harbor City condominium. She started the engine. As he bent down to speak with her, or perhaps kiss her good night, someone walked up from behind and shot them to death, firing four bullets at close range.

The case, with all the earmarks of an execution, baffles police.

Neither of the victims was involved in gangs or drugs. They had no criminal backgrounds, and yet the shooting appeared targeted. Robbery, as well as the victims’ past relationships, have been ruled out as motives.

“It’s just a mind-blower,” said Homicide Det. Bob Dinlocker of the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau. “What these kids were doing was nothing out of the ordinary. . . . Just two nice kids and now they’re gone.”

After nearly two months with few leads, police are turning to the public for help. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible.

Meanwhile, two families are left wondering about unrealized possibilities.

Renesha Fuller, who was taking classes at West L.A. City College, was killed just four days before she was to start a new job with the county health department.

“I always thought, ‘If you’re a good person, you will be taken care of,’ ” said her sobbing mother, Roberta Hollis, who lives with her husband, Simon Hollis, an Inglewood police officer, and Renesha’s older sister in Los Angeles.

Edward Robinson’s father, Albert Robinson, choked back tears as he talked about his son, the youngest of five children. A weightlifter, Edward stood 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighed about 250 pounds. He worked with his father as a mason for various concrete contractors and played drums for his church band. He had just passed a series of tests to be considered for a plant manager position with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“If I knew my son had been involved in gangs or been a bully, I could say, ‘Maybe he bothered somebody,’ ” said Albert Robinson, who lost his eldest son to violence in 1980. “But he didn’t bother nobody at all. Everybody loved Ed.”

Renesha, an avid shopper, met Edward at Del Amo Fashion Center last May and the two began going together in June, according to her parents.

Edward’s brother-in-law found a ring that Edward had apparently bought for Renesha and stashed in his car. His family believes that the gold band with diamonds and an amethyst--Renesha’s birthstone--may have been intended as an engagement ring.

The families will never know.

Edward was shot four times--in the abdomen, shoulder and left leg, authorities said. Police, who recovered four bullets, believe two shots went through Edward and then hit Renesha in the back and shoulder.

“It looks as if the shooter approached from the rear stealthily, since it doesn’t appear Edward even [turned around],” Det. Dinlocker said.

Renesha died at the scene. Edward died about 45 minutes later at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Edward’s sister, Bertha Robinson, with whom he shared a condominium, said she ran outside after hearing the shots. She saw a car speed away. Her brother was lying on the ground, attempting to raise his body so he could see Renesha. She told her husband to call 911.

Around that time, a man and woman who saw the scene from their car stopped and offered to help. They left before police arrived, however, because they said they had outstanding warrants.

Dinlocker said these two people may have seen something that could aid in the investigation.

The shooting took place on Frampton Avenue, just off Pacific Coast Highway, in a working-class neighborhood. Located on the outskirts of known gang territories in Harbor City, the area has had vandalism and occasional drug dealing, but not much violent crime, said Harbor City Senior Lead Officer Barry Telis.

Police say they are now considering the possibility that the gunman was a gang member who mistook the couple for someone else.

Lee Robinson, Edward’s stepmother, who had raised him since he was a baby, couldn’t help but smile last week as she viewed a video of Edward singing at a church service in June. He peered down at the song lyrics, broke out occasionally into an embarrassed grin and stole quick glances of the clapping audience, who affirmed, “Go on, now.”

Edward, who didn’t usually volunteer to perform a solo, insisted on that particular selection. He sang: I’m going up yonder to be with my Lord. If anyone asks you, I’m going up yonder to be with my Lord.

“For some reason, he asked for that one,” Lee Robinson said solemnly. “I believe he’s gone up yonder to be with his Lord.”