SANTA CRUZ - Friends of downtown business owner Shannon Kathleen Collins mourned her loss Tuesday after police identified her as the victim of Monday's "unprovoked, random" stabbing.



Longtime friend Timerie Gordon said those who knew Collins were "very angry and sad and trying to make sense of something that will never be sensible."

Collins, 38, co-owner of Camouflage on Pacific Avenue, was walking back from a hairdresser's appointment when police say she was "savagely" attacked about 11:50 a.m. on the 300 block of Broadway.

Minutes later, after a number of calls to 911, police arrested 43-year-old Charles Anthony Edwards III of San Francisco on suspicion of murder. Authorities declined to say how the encounter started and what led to her vicious slaying.

"She didn't know him and was not involved with him in any way," Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark said. "It was just the misfortune of fate that she crossed paths with him."

Police on Tuesday were constructing a time line of what led to the slaying. They said Edwards had been in Santa Cruz about a week. It was unclear where he was living.

Edwards is a convicted felon with an extensive violent criminal history in San Francisco.

In 1992, Edwards was convicted of felony assault with a deadly weapon, according to San Francisco court records. In 1996, he was convicted of battery and in 2000 convicted of making criminal threats.

The 2000 conviction led to a 16-month prison sentence that included a stint in Atascadero State Hospital, which provides psychiatric recovery services. Police declined to discuss what his mental state might have been at the time of the slaying.

Edwards is expected to be arraigned today in Santa Cruz County Superior Court on a charge of murder as well as seven special allegations, including use of a deadly weapon and prior serious felonies.

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