A 61-year-old drug and alcohol addiction expert, Dr. Hamid Mirshojae, was fatally shot in what is believed to have been a calculated ambush outside his clinic in the Woodland Hills district of Los Angeles, California. The incident occurred on August 23, 2024, around 5:30 in the evening, roughly an hour after his clinic had shut its doors for the day.
As reported by the Los Angeles Police Department, the perpetrator had been lingering in the parking lot of the Warner Plaza Urgent Center on Topanga Canyon Blvd. for close to an hour before Dr. Mirshojae left the building and headed toward his Lexus. The killer, who shot at close range, quickly escaped from the crime scene on foot. Police found bullet casings at the location, but the perpetrator and their motive for the crime remain unidentified.
Dr. Mirshojae, with over 20 years of experience in primary and emergency care, was renowned for his empathetic approach to medicine. His clientele comprised celebrities, athletes, and individuals from diverse backgrounds. Alongside his primary care work, Dr. Mirshojae was board-eligible in addiction medicine and had over ten years of experience in addiction treatment.
Unfortunately, this was not the first time Dr. Mirshojae had encountered violence. A few months before this fatal shooting, he suffered a brutal attack outside the same clinic by three unidentified individuals wielding baseball bats. He lived in fear for his life after the assault, but it remains unclear whether the two incidents are related.
One of his former patients, Khedhar Quintero, voiced that Dr. Mirshojae always exhibited genuine care and concern for his patients, expressing that he truly valued their futures rather than merely seeing them as numbers. Quintero suggested that Dr. Mirshojae’s work could have had a profound impact on someone’s life in a way that they did not appreciate, potentially resulting in his death.
Gloria Sera, another patient of many years, noted that Dr. Mirshojae had been her doctor for 15 years and consistently made her feel better. She revealed that Dr. Mirshojae, who was originally from Iran, had recently shared with her the news of his marriage.
At the time of the fatal shooting, Dr. Mirshojae’s wife and their infant daughter were visiting relatives in Turkey. He is also survived by three adult children from a prior marriage. Following the attack, the clinic has increased its security measures, which include the employment of a security guard to monitor the premises.
According to The Daily Mail, the Los Angeles doctor had been embroiled in a lengthy legal struggle with his ex-wife, Ahang Kelk, 54, which lasted close to two decades and involved his claims that she had threatened his life.
The legal conflicts began in 2009 following their divorce and expanded to include two fraud allegations, a civil harassment case, four restraining order requests, and numerous reopenings of their divorce case, with the most recent happening in January.
Both Kelk and Mirshojae, whose online profile boasts treating celebrity patients, movie stars, athletes, and people from diverse backgrounds, have at times obtained restraining orders against each other.
In a request from 2017, the doctor noted that a restraining order granted to his ex-wife forced him to leave their $6 million six-bedroom residence in Calabasas, where she continues to live. In May, Mirshojae initiated a lawsuit against Kelk for fraud, accusing her of transferring her assets to her mother and other relatives to hide them from him, thereby obstructing his access to settlement funds awarded to him in previous cases.
The couple was set to return to court on August 23 for a hearing related to the fraud allegations, which centered on her alleged failure to pay the $270,000 settlement he received from a 2021 case in which he again accused her of fraud and of running an illegal marijuana dispensary at a property in which they both had an interest. He also filed a request for an additional $600,000 in attorney fees, which is still pending, and alleged that she violated a settlement agreement they reached in 2017.
The 2021 case outlines the significant decline in the former couple’s relationship after Mirshojae terminated Kelk from her role in his medical practice in 2016. The complaint alleges that Kelk vowed to damage his business following her dismissal as office manager due to accusations of misappropriating over $600,000 from the surgical practice. Although a judge ruled in favor of Mirshojae, the current case concerns Kelk’s alleged failure to fulfill her financial obligations.
Kelk has also frequently revived their divorce proceedings, with the contentious nature of their legal battle leading Judge Steve Cochran to express his frustration by stating that ‘the cost of this litigation became unreasonable long ago’ in February. During that session, Kelk sought financial support for their youngest son Jason, who is 21 and legally an adult, arguing that he is unable to find work.
Despite their tumultuous history, Kelk seemed heartbroken upon hearing about Mirshojae’s death.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing, and the Los Angeles Police Department urges anyone with pertinent information to contact the LAPD’s Topanga station or Crime Stoppers.
