Several months before he was fatally shot outside his Woodland Hills medical office, Dr. Hamid Mirshojae was attacked by three men who beat him with baseball bats, an employee and police told The Times.
After the attack, the employee said, Mirshojae told him she feared for her life.
“They came and beat him with baseball bats… They were strangers that we didn't know,” said the employee, who asked not to be named for fear of her safety.
No arrests have been made in the case and the investigation is ongoing, police said, noting exactly when the attack occurred. It's unclear whether the beating was related to Mirshojae's killing last week. Los Angeles Police Detective Christine Moselle said detectives are aware of the earlier attack, which remains unsolved.
The revelation of earlier violence against the doctor, who was mourned by the community as a caring and beloved professional, raised new questions about the shocking murder that has left the Woodland Hills community in shock.
Dr. Hamid Mirshojae was shot and killed outside his medical center, Warner Plaza Medical Clinic, in Woodland Hills on Friday.
(Noah Goldberg/Los Angeles Times)
On Tuesday, as police continued their investigation, they said Mirshojae was the victim of a targeted killing and that a lone gunman took the doctor's life. A video showed the fatal shooting.
The doctor was walking from his clinic to his Lexus, which was parked in the corner of the parking lot, around 5:30 p.m. when an assailant ran up from the back entrance of the parking lot and shot him at point-blank range.
Mirshojae likely did not see what happened because he was shot from behind, according to the employee, who reviewed surveillance video of the doctor's final moments.
The employee had left the office 15 minutes before the murder. When she returned, just after 7 p.m., the police had invaded the parking lot. She said she could see her boss's legs stretched out on the ground.
Moselle told The Times that the shooter likely did not exchange words with Mirshojae and that Mirshojae was “shot almost immediately.”
The video is not entirely clear, but it appears the shooter was a man, Moselle said.
Investigators are examining the doctor's history and interactions for clues about who may have killed him and why, Moselle said. But for now, the motive remains unknown, he added.
