Police: NJ retirement community resident fatally stabs 1, hurts 2 amid feud

1 fatally stabbed, 2 hurt at NJ retiree community

LINWOOD, N.J. — A retirement community resident fatally stabbed an 88-year-old neighbor and seriously injured two others Thursday just hours before he was to appear in court on charges of disturbing the peace, authorities said.

Anthony Milano, a 65-year-old resident of the Village at Linwood, is in custody and will probably face murder and aggravated assault charges, Atlantic County Prosecutor Theodore Housel said.

Milano, apparently armed with a folding knife that was later found at the scene, accosted Katherine McGowan, 88, and his next-door neighbor Diane Nehmad, 60, as they walked from their apartment in the community, about 10 miles south of Atlantic City.

Another resident, 84-year-old Eugene Pepper, saw what was happening, tried to intervene and was also stabbed, authorities said.

McGowan was pronounced dead at the scene, while Nehmad and Pepper were flown to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City. Nemad was listed in critical condition, and Pepper was considered stable.

Milano didn’t have a lawyer yet in the stabbings, Housel said. He had been scheduled to appear Thursday night in Linwood Municipal Court for a hearing on charges of disturbing the peace that had been brought by some community residents.

Gil Finkelstein, president of the community’s condo association, told The Press of Atlantic City that Milano had been “behaving erratically” recently.