Ronni Chasen Update: Gun Used in Ex-Con's Suicide Appears to Be Same One that Killed Hollywood Publicist, Says LAPD
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (CBS/AP) According to a police source in the Los Angeles Times, the gun that ex-con and "person of interest" Harold Martin Smith used to kill himself as police approached him appears to be the same gun used to kill Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen last month.
If accurate, this contradicts earlier reports that the ballistics in the two shootings did not match.
Police Chief David Snowden told The Associated Press a press conference Wednesday afternoon would deal with preliminary ballistics test results of the gun used in the slaying of Ronni Chasen last month.
A law enforcement source says Smith is linked to the crime, reports celebrity site TMZ.com.
The 64-year-old Chasen was shot multiple times in the chest in Beverly Hills as she drove home from a premiere of the movie "Burlesque."
Investigators have said Chasen was shot as she waited to turn left from Sunset Boulevard to Whittier Drive, a road she could have taken to get back to her home in West Los Angeles.
Last week, Smith killed himself when Beverly Hills police detectives, armed with a search warrant, approached him in the shabby lobby of the Harvey Apartments, told him to take his hands out of his pockets and said they were there to talk about Chasen's killing.
Smith pulled a gun from his pocket and shot himself in the head.