The ex-wife of a doctor who was fatally shot outside his medical practice in Woodland Hills was charged Monday with murder, with the district attorney alleging that she hired a hit man to kill the victim for unspecified financial gain.
The murder charge against Ahang Mirshojae, 53, includes special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and murder for financial gain, according to the District Attorney’s Office. She is also facing an assault charge stemming from her alleged involvement in a May 3 baseball attack on Dr. Hamid Mirshojae, 61.
Prosecutors declined to immediately file any charges against another man who was arrested last week in the case, Shawn Randolph, 46, of Valley Village, pending further investigation by police.
Ahang Mirshojae was expected to appear in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom sometime Monday for arraignment, along with co-defendant Sarallah Jawed, 26, who is also charged with murder.
A total of four defendants are charged in connection with the Aug. 23 slaying of Dr. Hamid Mirshojae, who authorities said was ambushed as he walked to his vehicle in the parking lot outside his clinic in the 5900 block of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, near Warner Center Park.
Jawed, of Canoga Park, was arrested Wednesday by the Los Angeles Police Department’s fugitive unit and remains behind bars without bail, according to jail records. The murder charge against Jawed includes a special-circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain.
Evan Hardman, 41, a resident of Tomball, Texas, was arrested last Tuesday in the Houston area by deputies from the Harris County Sheriff’s Department. Hardman, who is awaiting extradition to California, was also charged with murder with a special-circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain. Hardman is also facing a special-circumstance allegation of murder by means of lying in wait, along with allegations that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm and that he has a string of robbery convictions in Los Angeles County dating back to 2002, according to the complaint.
Hardman and Jawed were also charged with one count each of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the May 3 baseball bat attack.
A fourth defendant, Ashley Rose Sweeting, 40, of Reseda, was arrested last Tuesday and pleaded not guilty Thursday to one count of being an accessory after the fact, along with an allegation that she has one or more prior serious or violent felony convictions.
At a Monday afternoon news conference, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Ahang Mirshojae was charged with “effectively hiring a hit man” — Hardman — to carry out the killing for financial gain. He did not provide any specifics about the amount of money involved or how much she allegedly paid to have the victim killed.
“The horror and betrayal of this crime are beyond words, and it is with a heavy heart that we must also announce that charges have been filed against Dr. Hamid Mirshojae’s ex-wife, Ahang Mirshojae, in connection with this tragedy,” Hochman said. “The depth of the deceit and violence involved in this case is chilling, and we will not rest until justice is served.”
In court last week, Deputy District Attorney Ben Schwartz told Superior Court Judge Susan J. De Witt that Sweeting allegedly drove the shooter to and from the crime scene in a “situation that appeared to be a murder for hire.” Sweeting has a string of criminal convictions for offenses including first-degree burglary and grand theft and is on diversion in a carjacking case, the prosecutor said.
Sweeting was ordered to remain jailed on $1 million bail. She is due back in court Dec. 24.
Mirshojae’s ex-wife was arrested Thursday following a police raid on a sprawling mansion she’s believed to own in the 5500 block of Newcastle Lane in Calabasas. She is being held without bail.
According to police, Hamid Mirshojae was walking to his vehicle in the parking lot of his Woodland Hills medical clinic at about 5:30 p.m. Aug. 23. When he approached the driver side of his vehicle, “a masked man emerged from hiding around the corner of the clinic and ran toward him,” police said in a statement. “From a close distance, the suspect fired at Doctor Mirshojae in an ambush-style attack and then immediately fled back toward the rear of the clinic away from the scene.”
Police said Thursday they believe the people arrested so far in the case “conspired to commit murder, culminating in the ambush and subsequent demise of Doctor Mirshojae.”
“It should be noted that the investigation remains ongoing, including determining the relationship some of the involved may have shared with the victim,” according to the LAPD.
Hochman said Sweeting drove Hardman to the Woodland Hills clinic, then drove him away from the scene after Hardman carried out the killing. Jawed then allegedly drove Hardman to Texas.
It was unclear of the District Attorney’s Office plans to seek the death penalty against any of the defendants.