Dennis RomeroA rare carjacking on the same street where Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen was gunned down was reported in Beverly Hills this month, but police said the cases are definitely not connected.
The carjacking in the 600 block of Whittier Drive, a curving street with multimillion dollar homes that run alongside the Los Angeles Country Club, was reported at Jan. 10 at 3:45 p.m., according to the Beverly Hills courier.
A Beverly Hills police official told the Weekly he's positive there is no connection to the Chasen case, although such crimes are unusual in the area.
Chasen was gunned down while driving her Mercedes in the 900 block of the same street early in the morning on Nov. 16 as she was heading home from a screening and after-party.
A well-regarded publicist known to A-listers and studio big wigs, the slaying shocked Hollywood.
Beverly Hills Courier.
One of the early theories about her death was that it was an attempted carjacking gone terribly wrong.
But in December police pinned the murder on a homeless man from Hollywood, Harold Martin Smith, who they believe rode his bicycle to Whittier Drive and tried to rob her. He killed himself as police closed in on a Hollywood apartment building he was known to frequent.
Police said the gun used in that suicide was the one that fired rounds at Chasen.
This month's carjacking involved six suspects, including at least five teenagers and two who were 17, who police said jumped into the victim's car and demanded a ride to a bank, according to the Courier. One of the suspects reportedly had a gun.
But the victim was soon dropped off and the suspects allegedly kept the car, police told the paper.
A Beverly Hills cop told the Weekly that the suspects were “in custody.”
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