PEOPLE MORGAN FREEMAN/GRANDDAUGHTER-NEIGHBORHOOD Neighbors shocked by murder of Morgan Freeman's granddaughter

Record ID: 143721

  • Title: PEOPLE MORGAN FREEMAN/GRANDDAUGHTER-NEIGHBORHOOD Neighbors shocked by murder of Morgan Freeman's granddaughter
  • Date: 17th August 2015
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE - OCTOBER 2013) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF FREEMAN AT PREMIERE OF "LAST VEGAS" BERLIN, GERMANY (FILE - FEBRUARY 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FREEMAN ON RED CARPET AT GERMAN GOLDEN CAMERA AWARD
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2015 13:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA15K4R6DNCJDO7XHNJ5IX553A0
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The live-in boyfriend of actor Morgan Freeman's granddaughter was charged on Monday (August 17) with her murder, police said.
    E'Dena Hines, 33, was found fatally stabbed early on Sunday in a street several doors down from her apartment in the city's Washington Heights neighborhood, according to the New York Police Department.
    She had suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
    Lamar Davenport, 30, was taken into custody and transferred to a hospital for mental evaluation, police said.
    Davenport had been seen by witnesses attacking Hines, yelling "Get out, devils. I cast you out, devils," according to reports in the Daily News and New York Post.
    He was charged early on Monday with second-degree murder, police said. He remained hospitalized under evaluation, police said.
    Hines and Davenport lived together at 438 West 162nd Street, police said. The crime happened in front of the apartment building at 450 West 162nd Street.
    Neighbors in the quiet Washington Heights street were shocked by the crime.
    "Horrifying. I've lived on this street for five or six years and it's a really, really quiet street. Nothing like this ever happens here," explained Emily Battle, who like Hines is an aspiring actress.
    "I was walking out the next morning [Sunday] to do laundry and there was crime scene tape and my heart sank; and to hear that someone was killed, like, as I was sleeping was like horrifying," she said.
    "Just surprising actually, you know. It's amazing 'cause you don't expect it, you know. Cause this block used to be bad in this neighborhood but lately it's been very nice, you know. So, this is the last thing you would think you would hear about, so that's what shocked me so much," added longtime resident Jimmy Shaw.
    Hines studied acting at New York University and was an actor, writer and acting instructor, according to her website.
    Freeman, 78, has appeared in more than 100 films, among them "Invictus," "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Driving Miss Daisy." He won an Oscar in 2005 for his supporting role in "Million Dollar Baby."
    "I want to acknowledge the tremendous outpouring of love and support my family has received regarding the tragic and senseless passing of my granddaughter Edena Hines," Freeman said in a posting on his Facebook page. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."
    Hines was Freeman's step-granddaughter but he never referred to her as that, Freeman publicist Stan Rosenfield said. She was the granddaughter of his first wife Jeanette Adair Bradshaw, who was divorced from Freeman in 1979.
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