Months before his gunshot death, the Woodland Hills doctor was beaten

Several months before he was shot and killed outside his Woodland Hills medical office, Dr. Hamid Mirshojae was attacked and beaten with baseball bats by three men, a co-worker and police told The Times.

After the attack, the employee said, Mirshojae told her he feared for his life.

“They came and beat him with baseball bats. … They were strangers we didn't know,” said the employee, who wished to remain anonymous out of concern for her safety.

No arrests have been made in the case and the investigation is ongoing, said police, who did not disclose exactly when the attack occurred. It is not clear if the beating is related to Mirshojae's killing last week. Los Angeles Police Department Detective Christine Moselle said investigators are aware of the earlier attack, which remains unexplained.

The revelation of past violence against the doctor, who was mourned by the community as a caring and beloved physician, raises new questions about the shocking murder that has rocked the Woodland Hills community.

As police continued their investigation on Tuesday, they said Mirshojae was the victim of a targeted killing and that it was a lone gunman who killed the doctor. A video of the fatal shooting can be seen.

The doctor was on his way from his office to his Lexus, which was parked in the corner of the parking lot, at around 5:30 p.m. when an attacker ran through the back entrance of the parking lot and shot him at point blank range.

According to the employee who viewed surveillance video of the doctor's final moments, Mirshojae probably did not see what happened because he was shot from behind.

The employee had left the office 15 minutes before the murder. When she returned after 7 p.m., the parking lot was already surrounded by police. She said she saw her boss's legs lying on the ground.

Moselle told the Times that the shooter probably did not exchange a word with Mirshojae and that Mirshojae was “shot almost immediately.”

The video is not entirely clear, but it appears the shooter was a man, Moselle said.

Investigators are looking into the doctor's past and contacts to find clues as to who might have killed him and why, Moselle said. However, the motive is currently unknown, she said.