Punchbowl resident Clare B. Silva was talking on the phone with her sister-in-law on the Mainland Sunday morning when the Mainland woman heard "popping sounds," according to a Honolulu police report.

Then the line went dead.

The sister-in-law called Honolulu police and asked that an officer go to Silva's home to check on her, the report said.

There, at the Punchbowl Homes apartment complex, resident Melvin Yoshida told the first officer on the scene that he had just shot Silva, police said. The officer found the wounded Silva, shot twice in the abdomen, in her apartment and called for an ambulance.

Yoshida, 70, remained in police custody last night pending a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Silva, 54, a leader and organizer at the state public housing complex.

Fellow tenants yesterday remembered Silva as a ball of energy who kept the mood bright at the home for senior and disabled residents.

Silva organized dances and picnics, set up a snack bar and thrift shop, decorated lobby bulletin boards and even had them translated into Chinese.

"She wanted them to have a life. She didn't want this place to be just about wheelchairs and sadness," said Dorothy Wheeler, 64, a resident of Punchbowl Homes.

Silva was killed in an 11:20 a.m. shooting at the 156-unit complex at 730 Captain Cook Ave.

Silva, a disabled grandmother of three with a daughter in the Navy on the Mainland, was president of the Punchbowl Homes residents association. In 2007, she led a group of 50 residents who held signs in front of their building in an attempt to slow down traffic.

"There were only good points about Clare," said Todd Cornelison, a two-year resident of the building. "She was the most remarkable woman."

Yoshida lives on the seventh floor, and Silva lived on the first floor. Yoshida told police he knocked on Silva's door shortly after 11 a.m. and that the pair began to argue.

Yoshida allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot Silva twice in the abdomen, police said. Yoshida is being held for investigation of second-degree murder and possession of a firearm without a permit.

Yesterday, about 70 residents of Punchbowl Homes met with state public housing officials and the American Red Cross. Chief among their concerns was the issue of gun ownership in the building, said Mike Wurtz, a licensed social worker and American Red Cross Hawai'i Chapter volunteer.

Wurtz said many residents were unaware that there was no language in their leases nor house rule that prohibits ownership of a fire arm.

"Many were wondering if they could add something in the lease agreement for future tenants that you couldn't have a firearm," Wurtz said. "None of them knew."

Punchbowl Homes is a Housing and Urban Development project for senior citizens and disabled residents and is administered by the Hawai'i Public Housing Authority.

Wurtz also tried to help the residents cope with their grief.

"We wanted them to know we were sorry for what happened to them in the building and to remember to eat, sleep and talk to each other," Wurtz said.

Ruben Cisneros, an association board member, said many of the elderly residents don't always know or understand how to talk to one another.

"We want them to know they there are things that they can do if they need help and who they can talk to," Cisneros said. "In light of what happened on Sunday, people need to be reminded of what they can do."

Tenants said Yoshida had difficulty with some residents since his wife's death about a year ago and had been pressuring Silva to be his girlfriend. Residents also said that Yoshida had been pursuing other women.

Yesterday, yellow crime scene tape blocked the door to apartment 113, where Silva lived. Stuck to the tape were red and pink hibiscus blossoms.

Tenants gathering to mourn Silva yesterday recalled how she once sought and received donations of furniture for the lobby, replacing old shabby folding chairs with upholstered peach-colored chairs and matching end tables. She used to pick up Food Bank donations for residents.

"She helped people and that meant she would put her neck out," said Cornelison, the two-year resident. "She kept everything going in the building. She is an irreplaceable person."