VIDEO: 'Person Of Interest' In Ronni Chasen Murder Kills Self; Neighbor Says He Bragged About Crime
Dec. 2 2010, Published 12:45 p.m. ET
A man who was considered a "person of interest" in last month's cold-blooded murder of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen killed himself Wednesday night, just as investigators showed up at his Hollywood apartment building to serve him a search warrant, and RadarOnline.com has video from the scene.
Watch the video on RadarOnline.com
The Beverly Hills Police Department said detectives from their division were at the man's apartment complex, the Harvey Apartments, to serve him a search warrant at about 6 pm PT Wednesday, when he pulled out a gun and fatally shot himself.
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Police said they hadn't spoken a word to the man before he killed himself. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, police said, adding no one else was injured in the incident.
The "person of interest" -- described as a tall, thin black man in his 40s known to neighbors as "Harold" -- had been under surveillance for a while, sources told the LA Times.
A neighbor told KABC-TV in Los Angeles the man was unusual, and had been bragging about killing a famous Hollywood publicist.
He said he "offed her," according to the neighbor, "and he was gonna get paid some money -- he bragged to my husband about that."
Brandon Harrison -- another resident at the apartment building -- told the L.A.Times that Harold described himself to other tenants as an ex-convict who served two stints in state prison, the most recent for firearms and drug convictions. Harold vowed that he would never go back to prison, according to Harrison.
"He told me several times, 'If it ever came back down to me going to prison, I would die first,'" Harrison said.
The man moved into the building three months ago, Harrison said, but was evicted. Harold had returned to the building repeatedly and asked Harrison and others if police had been looking for him.
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He said Harold told him that he was supposed to be getting $10,000, at one point saying it was for a job he did and on another occasion saying it was from a lawsuit.
Harrison said: "The man was very strange."
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, officials said they believe shots fired at the 64-year-old PR guru on November 16 came from a car that pulled alongside the passenger side of her Mercedes-Benz, likely as, or just before, she made a left turn from Sunset Boulevard onto Whittier Drive.
Chasen, who had attended the Burlesque premiere earlier in the evening, was shot five times while driving, until crashing into a light-pole.
She was then transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A., where she was pronounced dead.The Los Angeles County coroner's office confirmed Chasen's death had been ruled as death as homicide by gunshots.
At this time, police are not releasing the name of the man who committed suicide.
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