Ronni Chasen slaying: Suspect shoots himself as police serve search warrant

A man believed to be connected to the slaying of veteran Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen fatally shot himself at a Hollywood hotel Wednesday evening as Beverly Hills police were serving a search warrant there, sources told The Times.

The name of the man was not released, and his exact connection to the Chasen murder case was not immediately known. The shooting occurred after 6 p.m., according to two law enforcement sources who spoke on the condition that they not be named. The two sources said police believe he was involved in Chasen's death.

Chasen was shot to death last month while driving her Mercedes-Benz near the intersection of Whittier Drive and Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. She was on her way home from a movie premiere after-party.

She is believed to have left the event about midnight, traveling west on Sunset. Friends believe she had planned to head south to her condominium on Wilshire Boulevard near the grounds of the Los Angeles Country Club.

Several residents dialed 911 at the time of the attack. The first call, from a person who lives near Sunset and Benedict Canyon Drive, reported a gunshot.

Moments later, more 911 calls came in reporting shots heard several blocks to the west, near Whittier and Sunset. Another resident called 911 to report hearing the car crash into the light pole.

Residents who heard the crash found Chasen slumped over the steering wheel, bleeding. The passenger-side window of her car was shattered. One person who lives next to where Chasen's car came to a stop said she heard several shots, followed moments later by what she believed was the sound of a vehicle crashing.

 

ALSO:

Homicide Report: Share a thought or memory about Chasen

 

 

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-- Andrew Blankstein

Comments

[Gaston Greene]

The mystery deepens...

[DG3]

Wow, imagine what murders could be solved if the police put as much manpower on them as well.

[Meyers]

I knew that wasn't a random crime.

[Dorothy]

Wow, at least maybe this will lead to more people involved. Not unless this was coincidental that this guy killed himself not knowing they were about to serve him. Hmm, interesting, we'll soon find out more.

[Jayvee Sy]

It's kindah like Versace and Cunanan.

[kwitcherbellyakin]

the plot thickens

[Homer]

Dead men tell no tales.

[re-MARK-able]

WHAT DID RONNI CHASEN KNOW?

[cshargeit]

i live in a condo... will somebody care if...

[Tom]

No court costs.

[victor]

this is a movie in the making.

[Lexicon Artist]

The suicidalist was either someone in business with Chasen or a rejected lover. The hitman did not kill himself. It was the person who hired the killer. If I had to bet money on it right now, my guess is that it was a rejected lover, a man (or woman) Chasen did not have affectionate feelings for. ... I had previously leaned toward the theory that it was someone she had a broken business relationship with. However, someone who kills for commercial reasons seems unlikely to me to kill himself when the police close in.

[jj]

just wondering if the police has been tailing the guy and he knew it too...

[Alison]

Impressive work by the police, although a lot remains to be explained.

[Mufon]

DG3,

I assume you have examples for your assertion. What other murders are you referring to, and how much less manpower was expended on them, for example?

[Jim Dire]

What's a "suicidalist"? Anything like a "suicide"?

[nika]

The police must have a good idea of the motive if they had reason to zero in on this guy (unless he was just the hit man). But the suicide leads to the impression that he was deeply emotionally involved. I guess it must be love or money, or (yikes!) hollywood ego, - but, most likely, the answer is now known by the police and we will get it in time.

[Skip MacDonough]

Let me guess who this person was? A fifty-something white man, rejected lover and/or partner of the victim, who had a high blood alcohol content at the time of suicide, probably college-educated, suffering from depression as well as being under the influence. Statistically, that's who commits this type of crime, and certainly not a hitman.

[LFTUL]

It appears that the man who shot himself was a hitman in the Chasen murder.
The man pulled out a gun and shot himself as members of the Beverly Hills Police Department approached him in the small lobby of this transient apartment building. Police described him as “a person of interest” in the Chasen murder investigation. "A neighbor who identified the man as being named "Harold." The neighbor, Brandon Harrison, said that the man had said he had served in state prisons twice, and that he had stated that he expected to receive $10,000 for a job he did."

[Jason Banks]

The police essentially ruled out a romantic connection gone awry. All of this talk of a jilted lover are untrue. They are though leaning towards a business relationship, or lack thereof of somebody that felt slighted.

[DarrellKuni]

A jilted lover doesn't normally put a tight pattern into a moving target from a moving vehicle. That seems to make it a pro shooting; and she was hit not from driver's side but from passenger side, which may mean two people were in shooting vehicle, driver and shooter. Or the shooter/driver was one amazing shooter -- presumably shooting with left hand as he/she drove.

All of which means something to me more than love gone wrong. Follow the money.

[shadyking]

Hitman don't go down without a fight... this looks like a cover up?
No hard evidence shown yet. Easy way to close the case?
Nobody ever lives in hollywood murders ? witnesses die, drug overdoses, suspects always die, suicides, ect.
This isn't the person responsible!

[Bob]

How come we cannot see the face of the suspect? It this political correctness again?

[Bet]

This is such a crock! How stupid does LAPD think the public is? First they say the ballistic didn't match Smith's gun, now they say they do match and that this ignorant individual acted alone. Knowledgable pundits beleive that this murder has all the marking of a professional hit and that the bullets came from a high profile vehicle like an SUV based on the angle of bullet entry now LAPD is saying bullets came from a loser on a bicycle. The few facts that we do know certainly don't add up to this new statement by the LAPD.

What I'd like to know is did any non-LAPD individuals witness the supposed suicide by Smith?

This really smells like a cover up!