Police: Grad student killed his ex-wife

A 35-year-old UC Irvine graduate student is due in court today to face charges he shot his ex-wife to death outside his apartment in the university’s family housing Sunday night.

Brian Hughes Benedict, 35, a grad student in the physics program, shot his ex-wife, Rebecca Edwin Clarke, 30, as she ran away from him following an argument in the Verano Place apartment complex just after 7 p.m. Sunday, Irvine police officials said.

Clarke was there to pick up the pair’s 4-year-old son, whom she had full custody of, said UCI Police Department Assistant Chief Jeff Hutchison. The boy had been visiting his father, who officials said lives alone on the campus.

While she was picking up the boy, the two began arguing inside his apartment in the 4200 block of Verano Place, police said. The pair were still arguing as she left and headed toward Parking Lot 23 on the north side of the complex. Her son was there, too, police said. At some point, while she walked away from Benedict, he shot her, said Irvine police Lt. John Hare. The son was close by, and police would not say whether he saw his mother killed.

This is the first shooting death in UCI’s history, school officials said.

The boy is now with family members.

Leah Hemze, a grad student who lives in the complex, said she heard the shots from her apartment but didn’t know what she was hearing.

“It seemed like a lot. Way too many to be gunshots,” she said. “It’s sad in retrospect to hear the sound and know someone was dying.”

Several residents in the complex reported hearing the shots. Most said they heard somewhere between five and 10 gunshots in two distinct sequences several seconds apart.

“We just heard the shots and a woman screaming,” said Kirsten Trefflich, who lived near where Clarke was killed. She said her husband, a grad student at UCI, was one of a few people who tried to help the woman as she lay on the ground. He said it looked like Clarke had been shot in the face several times, along with being shot in the chest and arm, Trefflich said.

Clarke was taken to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead.

After the shooting, Benedict tried to leave but was stopped by witnesses until police showed up, Hare said. Police arrived in less than a minute and arrested him at gunpoint.

Benedict had spoken with university police about his custody situation Sept. 6, Hutchison said. The conversation lasted fewer than 10 minutes, and Benedict did not ask anything out of the ordinary or act suspiciously, he said.

Clarke completed the graduate program at UCI in 2004, school officials said.

Benedict is being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $1-million bail. He was booked on suspicion of murder.

University police reiterated that guns or weapons of any kind are not allowed on campus, but admitted that there’s no way to check it unless they see something or are tipped off.

UCI Chancellor Michael Drake said the campus is offering counseling for students and offered his condolences to Clarke’s family.

“Our hearts go out to her family, loved ones and friends,” he said. “Thanks to a very prompt response of the UC Irvine Police Department, the Irvine Police Department and the members of the Verano community, the suspect was subdued and apprehended within minutes. We are grateful for the valor and vigilance of our police and community members.

“Our campus regularly conducts programs in violence prevention and offers comprehensive counseling services to our students. Despite this isolated incident, UC Irvine is a very safe campus, and we will continue to do everything in our power to keep it that way.”