Man And Woman Arrested In Ambush Killing Of Doctor Have Long Records: Report

WOODLAND HILLS, CA — Police this week announced the arrests of two people suspected of killing a popular San Fernando Valley doctor in an ambush killing outside his clinic in August.

The arrests raise as many questions as answers, as police have not released information about the motive or how the victim and alleged killers are connected.

Almost four months after the Aug. 23 shooting of 61-year-old Dr. Hamid Mirshojae, police announced the arrests of 40-year-old Ashley Rose Sweeting, of Reseda, and 41-year-old Evan Hardman, of Tomball, Texas, on suspicion of murder.

Mirshojae was shot to death in the back of the head in the parking lot of his clinic in the parking lot outside a clinic at 5900 block of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Officers responded to reports of shots fired and found Mirshojae in the parking lot suffering from a gunshot wound, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Paramedics declared Mirshojae dead at the scene a short time later.

Police believe the doctor was shot by a killer lying in wait for him, who fled on foot to a waiting vehicle.

The fatal shooting happened weeks after Mirshojae was beaten by bat-wielding attackers, leaving him fearing for his life.

"They came and they beat him with baseball bats. ... They were some strangers that we didn't know," an employee who worked for Mirshojae told The Los Angeles Times.

Police have not said if the earlier attack was connected to Mirshojae's slaying. Authorities also have not said how they connected Sweeting and Hardman to the killing.

``The Los Angeles Police Department worked in concert and close relationship with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Field Offices in Los Angeles and Houston, to locate and apprehend both suspects," LAPD officials said in a statement.

According to the The Los Angeles Times, both Sweeting and Hardman have long criminal histories that escelated to violent crimes.

Sweeting faced more than a dozen criminal cases filed before the killing, including an incident where she was accused of stealing a friend's car and then hitting the person with her own car, the Times reported. Hardman faced three criminal cases since 2021, including two open cases involving charges of assault with a deadly weapon and threatening to commit a crime with intent to terrorize, according to the newspaper.

Detectives this week released photos of the pair and encouraged additional victims to com forward.

Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to call LAPD Valley Homicide detectives at 818-374-9550. Anonymous tipsters can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or visit lacrimestoppers.org.