TWO people have been arrested on suspicion of murder – months after a top doctor who treated celebrities was killed outside his practice.
Dr Hamid Mirshojae, 61, was ambushed before being shot dead outside his clinic located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Woodland Hills in August.
The motive behind the shooting remains unknown, but cops have made two arrests as part of their probe that has spanned months.
Evan Hardman, 41, was arrested in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday, Los Angeles Police Department officials said.
Ashley Rose Sweeting, 40, was also arrested in the San Fernando Valley, located within Los Angeles County, as reported by The CW affiliate KTLA-TV.
Cops have not revealed if either Hardman or Sweeting knew Mirshojae.
Mirshojae was heading toward his Lexus when the shooter opened fire.
His cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, and the manner was a homicide.
Christine Moselle, a Los Angeles Police Department detective, believed it was likely the shooter and Mirshojae didn’t have a conversation before he was gunned down.
Police revealed the shooter combed the parking lot for around an hour before Mirshojae was killed.
The shooter then fled the scene, according to cops.
Mirshojae, who was from Iran, was killed just months after being allegedly ambushed with baseball bats.
“They came, and they beat him with baseball bats,” the worker, who wanted to remain anonymous, told The Los Angeles Times.
“They were some strangers that we didn’t know.”
The doctor’s co-workers said the alleged ambush left him fearing for his life.
Mirshojae’s wife, who was in Turkey at the time he was killed, quickly returned to the US with their six-month-old daughter.
Mirshojae had more than two decades of experience and treated drug and alcohol addiction as well as emergency care, according to his bio on the Detox Woodland Hills clinic.
His list of patients included A-listers such as movie stars and athletes.
The doctor was killed outside his Los Angeles clinic on August 23 by a gunman who shot him in the back at point blank range.
Hamid Mirshojae graduated from the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific.
He specialized in emergency medicine at the Warner Plaza Urgent Care Center in Woodlands, California.
Mirshojae also treated drug and alcohol addiction.
The Warner Plaza Urgent Care Center describes the late doctor as a “leader in his field, focusing on compassion and wisdom when treating his patients.”
“His patients include celebrities, movie stars, athletes, and many people from different walks of life,” the description adds.
He has four children, one with his current wife and three adult children with his ex-wife Ahang Zarin Kelk who he divorced in 2010.
The Warner Plaza Urgent Care Center described the late doctor as a leader in his field.
Tributes were paid to the doctor following his death.
Dr. Azin Kolahi, a dentist in Woodland Hills, described Mirshojae as a sweet man who always had a smile on his face.
Mirshojae’s ex-wife, with whom he had three adult children, was also among those who paid tribute.
“Hamid, the kids, and I are in so much shock we miss you so bad,” she wrote on Facebook.
“They took Hamid away from us right in front of his practice.”
Former patient Cherilyn Bacon described Mirshojae as a “wonderful” doctor.
She told KTLA that Mirshojae treated her after she fell ill following a trip to Brazil.
LAPD cops, the FBI, and police forces in Houston all played a role in the probe.
The LAPD urges anyone with information to call the Valley homicide unit at 818 374-9550.
