Man in Inquiry in Publicist's Death Shoots Himself
IAN LOVETT and ADAM NAGOURNEY
LOS ANGELES — A man apparently linked to the killing of Ronni Chasen, the Hollywood publicist gunned down after midnight in Beverly Hills two weeks ago, killed himself on Wednesday evening as the police tried to carry out a search at the apartment building where he was staying, the authorities said.
The man — who was not immediately identified — pulled out a gun and shot himself as members of the Beverly Hills Police Department approached him in the small lobby of a transient apartment building just before 6 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Police Department. He later was pronounced dead from self-inflicted bullet wounds.
The suicide was another twist in a murder mystery that has transfixed the city, with the police seemingly baffled by the shooting of a respected old-line Hollywood figure who traveled in celebrity circles.
The suicide took place as officers from the Beverly Hills Police Department were "on scene conducting a follow-up investigation," said Shan Davis, a spokesman for the department. Lieut. Tony Lee, also of the Beverly Hills Police Department, described the man who killed himself as "a person of interest" in the Chasen murder investigation.
Beverly Hills police officials, citing the ongoing investigation, declined to offer any more details on the circumstances of the suicide, the nature of the investigation or the man himself. The Los Angeles Times was the first to report the suicide on its Web site Wednesday night.
The Los Angeles Times also quoted 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.
After the suicide, officers swarmed in front of the Harvey Apartments, in the 5600 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, putting up barriers to hold back a growing throng of reporters and onlookers.
The scene was a world away from the corner in Beverly Hills where Ms. Chasen was found slumped behind the wheel of her black Mercedes-Benz, the victim of multiple gunshots: A transient month-to-month hotel in a run-down section of Los Angeles, on the east side of Hollywood, officials said, where small studios rent for $625 a month. The suicide took place just outside the manager's office in the small lobby right off Santa Monica Boulevard, residents there said.
Ms. Chasen, 64, was a respected press agent known for orchestrating campaigns to help films win Oscars. She was found dead, shot repeatedly, in her car at the corner of Whittier Drive and Sunset Boulevard. It is a lavish neighborhood of mansions, estates and, by day, tour buses gawking at the homes where so many movie stars have lived.
She was returning from the world premiere, and a party, for "Burlesque," the movie starring Cher, when she was fatally shot.