Ex-wife accused of hiring hit man to kill Woodland Hills doctor for financial gain

The ex-wife of a Woodland Hills doctor — who a few months ago wept at his memorial — hired a hit man to ambush and murder him for financial gain, prosecutors say.

Ahang Kelk, 53, is charged with one felony count of murder and one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon in the slaying of Hamid Mirshojae, the L.A. County district attorney’s office announced Monday. Prosecutors said Kelk enlisted the help of several people to carry out the slaying, three of whom have already been charged in the murderous scheme.

The 61-year-old doctor was leaving his Woodland Hills medical practice after work on Aug. 23 when a masked man crept up on him and shot him in the back of the head, said Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell. The slaying occurred just months after the doctor was jumped by a trio of men wielding baseball bats, an attack that he said left him fearing for his life.

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Ex-wife organized a tearful memorial for slain L.A. doctor. Now she is jailed in his killing

Soon after Hamid Mirshojae’s killing, the years of conflict between him and his former wife became a focus of suspicion.

Dec. 13, 2024

Evan Hardman, 41, of Texas and Sarallah Jawed, 26, of Canoga Park are accused of staging both the attacks.

Ashley Rose Sweeting, 40, of Reseda drove Hardman to the Warner Plaza Medical Clinic, where he delivered the fatal gunshot after ambushing Mirshojae, prosecutors said. She then whisked him away and allegedly rendezvoused with Jawed, who transported the accused hit man to Texas, prosecutors said.

Hamid Mirshojae was killed in August outside Warner Plaza Medical Clinic in Woodland Hills.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Hardman was arrested in Texas on Tuesday and is awaiting extradition to Los Angeles, prosecutors said.

Both men are charged with one felony count of murder and one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon. Sweeting is charged with being an accessory to murder and pleaded not guilty.

Jawed and Kelk were scheduled to be arraigned on Monday. Information on their pleas was not immediately available.

“The depth of the deceit and violence involved in this case is chilling,” Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “We will not rest until justice is served.”

The alleged motive for the killing was financial gain, he said.

Since divorcing in 2009, Mirshojae and Kelk had been engaged in an acrimonious and protracted legal battle.

They fought over real estate and child support for their two kids. Mirshojae accused his wife of committing fraud to avoid paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars she had been ordered to fork over.

At separate points, they each sought restraining orders and claimed the other was threatening to kill them.

Court documents revealed a muddy picture of the couple’s financial standing. At times they were living large, paying for private school tuition and driving sports cars. Later, they were accused of failing to pay legal bills and claimed they had no money.

Kelk was immediately identified as a person of interest after the slaying but brushed off the accusations, telling The Times in August, “It’s all lies.” At the time, she said that Mirshojae had been “an amazing person toward everybody” and that she wished the killer “suffers for the rest of the moments he breathes.”

A fifth person, Shawn Randolph, 46, of Valley Village, was arrested Thursday in connection to the killing. Charges against him have not yet been announced.

Hochman said he anticipates the defendants being prosecuted through a joint trial.

“For the last four months the LAPD, alongside our partner agencies, has worked tirelessly to bring those responsible for this ambush-style murder to justice,” McDonnell said in a statement. “The men and women of the LAPD will leave no stone unturned to deliver justice and return a sense of calm to our communities.”

Multiple law agencies collaborated with the LAPD in the investigations, including the FBI field offices in Los Angeles and Houston, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Harris County Sheriff’s Department in Texas and the Houston Police Department.

Times staff writer Noah Goldberg contributed to this report.