RIVERSIDE, CA — A man who allegedly gunned down his 75-year-old housemate and tried to kill his girlfriend during a dispute at their south Riverside residence was charged Thursday with murder and other offenses.
Christopher Jacob Lennox, 27, of Riverside was arrested Sunday following a Riverside Police Department investigation.
Along with murder, Lennox is charged with attempted murder, domestic violence and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
The defendant, who is being held on $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail, was slated to make his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
He allegedly killed Robert Joe Mageno of Riverside around noon on Easter Sunday in the 7600 block of Canberra Way, near Trautwein Road, in the Mission Grove quarter.
According to Riverside police Officer Ryan Railsback, the attack happened during an unspecified argument between Lennox and his girlfriend, identified in court documents only as “L.G.,” at the defendant’s residence, where several people leased rooms, including Mageno.
“The suspect retrieved a handgun and shot his girlfriend,” Railsback said. “When she fled the room, Mageno appeared from his room, and the suspect shot him. The girlfriend was able to flee across the street after the shooting.”
Witnesses called police, and patrol officers converged on the location, locating L.G. wounded but conscious. She was taken to a Riverside hospital, where she remains in critical condition, according to Railsback.
Mageno was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
Officers took Lennox into custody without incident.
“They located a handgun inside the home … believed to have been used in the shooting,” the police spokesman said.
The defendant has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
