Cops: Man acted alone in slaying of publicist

Associated Press

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.

Hollywood’s whodunit about the wealthy publicist gunned down driving home from a movie premiere now appears to be more of a garden-variety crime gone wrong.

Police on Wednesday said preliminary ballistics tests showed the gun a man used to kill himself as officers went to talk to him about Ronni Chasen’s killing was the same weapon that was used to kill her.

Harold Martin Smith, 43, a down-on-his-luck ex-convict with a rap sheet spanning at least 25 years, had apparently ridden his bicycle to a dark intersection on Sunset Boulevard then attempted to rob Chasen.

“This was a random act of violence. With Mr. Smith’s background, we believe that it was most likely a robbery gone bad,” Beverly Hills police Sgt. Mike Publicker said. “Through the interviews and the information we received, that leads us to believe that he was at a desperate point in his life, and was reaching out and doing desperate measures.”

Smith committed suicide Dec. 1 as police, acting on an anonymous tip left with the TV show “America’s Most Wanted,” went to speak with him at a seedy Hollywood apartment building from which he had recently been evicted. Before police could talk to him, he shot himself in the head.

One of Smith’s neighbors told police Smith had boasted that he was going to get paid $10,000 for carrying out the killing.

Police Chief David Snowden disputed that, saying there appeared to be no broader plot.