Alameda Woman Pleads Not Guilty To Shooting Elderly Man While He Slept

An Alameda woman pleaded not guilty today to murder and elder abuse charges for the fatal shooting of a man while he slept. Donna Marie Qualls, 54, is scheduled to return to Alameda County Superior Court on Jan. 25 for a pretrial on charges stemming from the death of 73-year-old Emmanuel Emmett Christy in Alameda on Dec. 3.

Alameda police Detective Alex Keden wrote in a probable cause statement that Qualls called police at 10:19 a.m. that day to report that she had shot someone.

Officers arriving at a home in the 700 block of Buena Vista Avenue found Qualls and a male relative inside the home. Christy was found dead in an upstairs bedroom with a single gunshot wound to the head, Keden said.

In an interview with investigators, Qualls confessed to shooting Christy while he slept, according to Keden. Qualls is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin without bail.

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