DETROIT (WXYZ) — The family of Bernice Clark is concerned that the man charged with her murder is pretending to be "crazy" after a defense attorney for James Fleming requested that he be sent for a competency evaluation.
Fleming is charged with murdering Clark, 66, and Kenneth Hall, 50, at the Phillip Sims Senior Housing apartment in Detroit.
Clark moved into the senior apartments in the summer of 2018. Flemming also lived there, but on November 13, investigators say Fleming sexually assaulted a woman in his apartment and when he was leaving, he fatally shot Clark in a hallway.
Hall, who was a security guard for the apartment building, was shot and killed outside the building.
Fleming fled the location and eluded Detroit Police for about a week until he was located and arrested in Virginia
At a press conference Thursday, Clark's daughter-in-law, Rosena Branch, said Fleming was absolutely in his right mind when he committed the murders.
Attorney Cannon Lambert, Sr., who is representing Clark's relatives says management at Phillip Sims Senior Housing is refusing to provide the family with information about security cameras that were reportedly not working or tell them how Fleming, a registered sex offender, was allowed to live in the subsidized apartment building.
Branch said, "There are allegations that he was a danger and a lot of people were afraid of him, and we wanna know is that true."
The family is considering a lawsuit to get the answers they need.
Action News contacted management for the Phillip Sims Senior Housing apartment building where a regional manager refused to comment.
Fleming will now undergo a court-ordered competency evaluation. He remains in custody and is set to appear back in court in April for the judge to make a ruling based on the findings that will be in the psychiatrist's report.
