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A doctor in Woodland Hills, California was shot and killed outside of his medical clinic on Friday. Police believe the killing was targeted.
Dr Hamid Mirshojae, 61, left his clinic around 6:15pm and was walking to his car in the parking lot of the Woodland Hills Medical Clinic and Urgent Care — approximately 25 miles northwest of central Los Angeles — when he was approached and shot by an unknown suspect, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Police reviewed surveillance footage that captured the incident, and said the suspect had been waiting for nearly an hour in the parking lot before the doctor exited. Once the doctor was near his car, the suspect ambushed him and began firing before leaving the area on foot.
Mirshojae died in the parking lot from his wounds. LA fire department paramedics declared him dead at the scene.
A makeshift memorial to the doctor has been growing outside the medical clinic, according to KTLA.
A former patient, Khedhar Quintero, told the broadcaster that the doctor was "full of love."
“He doesn’t care that you’re just another number in his lobby, he cares about your future as well," the patient said.
Close friends told the broadcaster that the doctor's wife and six-month-old baby were in Turkey visiting family at the time of the shooting. Mirshojae also reportedly has three children from a previous marriage.
"It's just mind-blowing," Sarah Kay, a Woodland Hills resident, told ABC7. "You know of all people, why someone who wants to help others? It's really sad and my regards goes out to their family."
Another woman, who spoke to CBS News outside the clinic on Monday, said she was "devastated" because she lost not only her doctor, but "lost a friend."
Quintero said the doctor helped many patients who were fighting drug addiction, and speculated his work in that space could have motivated the shooting.
“He helped a lot of people with detox,” Quintero said. “Who knows what they could’ve been going through. He could’ve changed something in their life. He could’ve done something different that they didn’t like, and someone wanted him removed from this world unfortunately.”
Police are still trying to determine a motive in the attack. A description of the suspect has not been released at this time.
The LAPD has asked anyone with information about the shooting to call its Topanga station at 818-756-4800.
