Barbara Bates, 77, was shot and killed at her Arcadia, Florida, apartment on April 17, 2026, in what authorities described as a double homicide at the Jacaranda Trail Apartments on Hargrave Street. The morning’s violence began shortly after 9:00 a.m. when a confrontation involving 45-year-old Eric Devon Robinson and another resident, Tanika Summers, erupted into gunfire. Summers was shot multiple times; Bates, who was not described as the intended target, reportedly witnessed the attack and called 911 to report a man shooting in the parking lot.

According to investigators and 911 records, Bates was shot before help arrived; one report said she was struck through her bedroom window. Her body was not discovered until about 1:00 p.m., when her granddaughter Madalyn Brown found her and called 911. Robinson was arrested nearby the same day and was booked in DeSoto County on two counts of first-degree murder, along with additional charges that included kidnapping and obstructing justice. Court records cited a restraining order against Robinson from September after Summers sought protection, a detail that frames the killings as the deadly escalation of a domestic dispute.

Bates is remembered by family as a grandmother who lived in Arcadia after growing up in Solon, Ohio, and being born in Wheeling, West Virginia. Does anyone have information about Bates, Summers, or that apartment complex that could help investigators or the families?