A woman was shot to death early Friday in Northwest Roanoke and police arrested a suspect not long afterward.

Kendra T. Jones, 33, was shot shortly after midnight at Lansdowne Park housing project in the 2900 block of Salem Turnpike Northwest, according to police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson. Police responding to the scene found Jones outside, suffering from a gunshot wound. She was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where she later died.

Johnson said Kenneth Devon Cofer Sr., 48, was arrested and charged with murder. She said Cofer and Jones were casual acquaintances.

According to search warrant affidavits filed Friday in Roanoke Circuit Court, two witnesses told police that a man whom they identified as Cofer had come to a nearby residence brandishing a shotgun and looking for someone they said he had earlier had an altercation with. The witnesses, whose names are not being released by police, said the man got into an increasingly heated verbal argument with Jones, which they said culminated with him shooting her and fleeing the scene. The search warrant said Jones appeared to have been shot in the stomach.

Johnson said officers stopped Cofer "a short time later" in the 800 block of Hanover Avenue Northwest, which is about two miles east of the crime scene. Cofer was driving his car at the time, a Chrysler sedan, and officers found what appeared to be bloodstains on his clothing and on the outside of his vehicle, according to the warrant.

Warrant returns indicate that his car was searched and police seized multiple red swabs, various items of clothing, a sneaker, a cellphone and three unspecified shell casings. Some of the articles of clothing were described as having red stains.

Police would not say whether a firearm was recovered.

Cofer is being held in the Roanoke City Jail.

Cofer does not live at Lansdowne Park and Jones wasn't a resident there either, according to Glenda Edwards, executive director of the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

This is the eighth homicide this year in Roanoke and it is the second violent incident at Lansdowne Park within 10 days.

On June 17, a man was assaulted during a home invasion in the 2400 block of Delta Drive Northwest and suffered massive head trauma, most likely from a gunshot wound, according to a search warrant. The man was also stabbed. His condition was not available last week from Roanoke Memorial, and hospital spokesman Eric Earnhart said Friday afternoon he was not listed as a patient.

"It's disconcerting," Edwards said. "It's very unusual to have two events like that happen so close in time."

Edwards said that she has not seen a large increase in crime at the city's public housing sites but added that the current crime level is still a concern.

RRHA tracks crime on a monthly basis at each of the city's eight housing sites. According to a May report, Lansdowne Park had the highest rate of drug-related crime and the second highest rate of violent crime for the year to date.

The housing authority plans to install security cameras in all of the city's public housing sites starting Oct. 1. Melrose Towers and Morningside Manner, two sites specifically designated for senior citizens and the disabled, already have security cameras but none of the other six family developments do.

Edwards stressed the importance of having both management and tenants work together to ensure the safety of Lansdowne Park's 300 units. Property manager Sharnita McNair has been talking to residents since the crime and has created an advisory committee to establish a neighborhood watch group

"We are working as aggressively as we can to improve our security," Edwards said.

One Lansdowne Park resident, Kiana Ragland, said she was at home when she heard a single gunshot. She looked in back of her house and saw Jones on the ground holding her stomach.

Ragland described Jones as a well-known and friendly person who often gave candy to children.

"Basically everybody knew her," Ragland said. "She was like the neighborhood candy store."