It was a scene befitting a Hollywood true crime drama: A prominent Beverly Hills publicist was gunned down in her Mercedes-Benz after attending a movie premiere, sending the luxury car careening into a light post near Sunset Boulevard.
Police said Ronni Chasen was shot in the chest several times and killed early on Tuesday in an attack that stunned Hollywood, where she was a revered figure after promoting the Oscar-winning film Driving Miss Daisy and other major movies and stars over the years.
Police had no motive or suspects and said no threats had been reported against the 64-year-old Chasen. The mystery deepened later in the day when police seized computers from her firm, Chasen and Co.
Fellow publicist Howard Bragman called the killing bizarre.
“She wasn’t a shady character,” he said. “It’s a small community and she was one of the fixtures in it.”
Witnesses said they heard gunshots in the serene Beverly Hills neighborhood and called the police emergency dispatcher before going outside to help.
“I heard the ‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’ of gunshots, ran up to the window, and there was the back of the car,” said Nahid Schekarchian, who lives in an apartment above the crash site.
She said her daughter-in-law called police and her son and a neighbor ran down to the car and found Chasen, who was struggling to breathe and bleeding from her nose and chest.
The front passenger’s window was shattered.
The killing took place after Chasen attended the premiere of the movie Burlesque, which the trade publication Variety said she was promoting for Screen Gems to position the soundtrack for an Oscar nomination.
Chasen “was at our premiere last night and so full of her trademark energy and love of life,” said Amy Pascal, co-chair of Screen Gems owner Sony Pictures. “We are heartbroken, shocked and completely devastated.”
Chasen was struck down in the midst of her busiest time of year — Hollywood’s award season, when the movie studios mount expensive campaigns to promote their better films for awards consideration using spin-specialists like Chasen.
She was also working with 20th Century Fox on a supporting actor Oscar campaign for Michael Douglas in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, according to Allen Berry, a publicist for the actor.
Chasen’s other clients included movie producers Irwin Winkler and Richard Zanuck.
Morgan Freeman said he had the “extreme pleasure” of working with Chasen on Driving Miss Daisy.
“We’ve been friends ever since,” the actor said. “She is someone I greatly admired, and she will be remembered.”
The crime scene was marked with yellow police tape stretched between two trees on a grassy parkway among stately homes south of Sunset. An orange cone marked the spot where the light post had stood and a small bouquet of yellow and red flowers was next to the curb.
Bradley Turell, a longtime colleague of Chasen, came to the site to mourn his friend.
“Ronni was a positive force of nature,” he said during an interview by The Associated Press and KNBC. “She was just great at what she did, a supreme sales person and a great lady.”
Chasen was involved in Hollywood publicity since the 1970s. She also promoted On Golden Pond, which won Academy Awards for best actor, actress and screenplay in 1981.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
RSS