The ex-wife of a prominent Los Angeles doctor – gunned down in an ambush-style attack outside his clinic in August – was arrested and charged with his murder as police raided her home.

Ahang Mirshojae, née Kelk, was among five people arrested earlier this week for conspiracy to commit the murder of Dr. Hamid Mirshojae, the Los Angeles Police Department announced.

No motives were revealed in the suspected murder and police have not released details of the roles each allegedly played in Dr. Mirshojae’s death.

Dr. Mirshojae, 61, was fatally shot in the back of his head by a “masked man” in the parking lot of his family clinic on the 5900 block of Topanga Canyon Blvd. in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles on Aug. 23, 2024.

Mirshojae, whose patients included “celebrities, movie stars, athletes and many people of different walks of life,” had just finished his shift at around 5:34 p.m. when the gunman appeared from a hiding spot and ran towards the Iranian-born doctor.

After the fatal shooting, the gunman ran to the rear of the Woodland Hills Medical Clinic and Urgent Care as police responded 42 minutes later to an “Ambulance Shooting” call.

Mirshojae was pronounced dead at the scene.

After a nearly four-month-long investigation, police officials announced the arrest of Kelk and four others.

Kelk, 53, had mourned the death of her ex-husband in a since-deleted Facebook post.

“Hamid, the kids and I are in so much shock we miss you so bad,” she said. “August 23rd 5:30pm they took Hamid away from us right in front of his practice. He was always helping people seeing tens and thousands of patients for decades we fought HARD to make life happen starting from nothing in the apartment and still the world is so cold.”

The now-suspected murderer said her family had to be “strong in the face of evil” to remember Mirshojae.

The former couple shared three adult children.

Hours before her arrest, LAPD and federal investigators raided Kelk’s Calabasas home Thursday evening, according to KTTV.

It was not revealed if anything was discovered during the search.

In August, Kelk denied any involvement in her ex-husband’s death.

“It’s all lies,” she said according to the Los Angeles Times.

After separating from his ex-wife, Dr. Mirshojae remarried in 2023, and the newlywed couple shared a 6-month-old girl at the time of his death.

His new wife and daughter were visiting family in Turkey at the time of the shooting, but jetted back to the US after learning the heartbreaking news.

Suspects

Along with Ahang Mirshojae’s arrest Thursday, police also arrested and charged four others for the Aug. 23 suspected killing.

Evan Hardman, 41, was arrested on Dec. 10 in the greater Houston area of Texas and charged with Murder with Special Circumstances and will be transferred to LAPD custody.

Ashley Rose Sweeting, 40, was nabbed in the San Fernando Valley Tuesday for being an accessory to murder.

Sarallah Jawed, 26, was taken into custody Wednesday and charged with Murder with Special Circumstances.

Shawn Randolph, 46, was arrested and booked for Murder on Thursday.

Hardman and Jawed were also charged with attacking Dr. Mirshojae with a baseball bat in May, Fox 11 reported.

The two were each slapped with an assault with a deadly weapon charge for the May 3 attack that left Mirshojae fearing for his life.

“They came and they beat him with baseball bats,” an employee told the Los Angeles Times at the time. “They were some strangers that we didn’t know.”

Kelk and Randolph are being held without bail and their cases will be presented for filing consideration to the LA DA’s office on Dec. 16.

The investigation is ongoing, the LAPD said.

The report shows that annual emissions decreased by an average of 2.5% between 2018 and 2022. That number would need to come down to 4% annually to meet California’s 2030 climate targets.

“We absolutely have to reduce emissions by a greater amount between now and 2030, but we’re moving in that direction,” Perry said. “When you take all the climate policies in California and see the progress that we’re making, I think we have a good shot at hitting that.”

Part of this calculation depends on the incoming Trump administration. Vehicle emission standards are set by the federal government, but the Clean Air Act allows California to put forth its own clean car rules so long as it applies for a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency. The state expanded how many of these waivers it asked for during the Joe Biden administration.

California has relied on these permissions to enforce its nation-leading clean air and climate rules for decades, but Trump revoked some of these waivers in his first term, and promises to do so again in his second.

One waiver currently under consideration at the EPA would allow the state to mandate that all new passenger cars sold be zero-emission by 2035. Trump has said he wants to block this.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission all did not reply to requests for comment on this report.

A Republican lawmaker has set his sights on federal funding for California’s high-speed rail, driven by the ambitious initiative’s escalating costs and significant delays.

On Wednesday, California Representative Kevin Kiley announced that he would be proposing a bill to halt federal funding for the “failed California High-Speed Rail Project.”

“California’s high-speed rail project has failed because of political ineptitude, and there is no plausible scenario where the cost to federal or state taxpayers can be justified,” Kiley said on Wednesday. “Our share of federal transportation funding should go towards real infrastructure needs, such as improving roads that rank among the worst in the country.”

Newsweek reached out to the California High-Speed Rail Authority via phone and email for comment.

When contacted for comment, Kiley’s office said that the bill would be introduced at the beginning of the 119th Congress, set to commence on January 3.

Kiley’s office added that the bill aims to terminate the project entirely, after which proposals will be introduced advocating for federal funding to be directed toward California’s roads and existing infrastructure.

While Kiley’s bill will need to go through the customary legislative procedures of House, Senate and Executive approval before becoming law, it is only the latest example of opposition to the ballooning costs and minimal returns associated with the massive infrastructure project.

What is California’s high-speed rail project?

The project, funding for which was first authorized in 2008, is a planned high-speed rail route connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco, with second-phase plans incorporating routes to San Diego and Sacramento.

It was initially expected to be operational by 2020. However, in its 2024 business plan, the California High-Speed Rail Authority set a target to launch service in the Initial Operating Segment (IOS) connecting Merced and Bakersfield between 2030 and 2033.

The purpose of the project, which would be the United States’ first high-speed rail network, is to create an efficient and environmentally friendly transportation system, reducing traffic congestion, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and offering Californians an alternative to air and car travel.

“California’s high-speed rail project plays an important role as part of the broader climate solution in our state,” the California State Transportation Agency has said. “It will provide the backbone of our statewide rail service that will increase connectivity between communities, statewide, regional and urban areas.”

Funding for the project comes from the state and federal level, $3.1 billion of which was recently allocated as part of the Biden Administration’s 2023 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Why is the project facing pushback?

The project has been heavily criticized for escalating costs and numerous setbacks in its construction. Opponents argue that state and federal funds would be better spent on alternative transportation projects to connect Californians.

The project was initially expected to cost taxpayers $33 billion. As of February, however, the California High-Speed Rail Authority estimates that completing the route will cost between $89 and $128 billion. It justified this figure by stating that constructing “equivalent highway and air passenger capacity” would require between $179 to $253 billion in funds.

In recent remarks on the House floor, Kiley called the project “perhaps the single greatest example of government waste in United States history.”

In the Wednesday announcement, Kiley cited recent criticisms of the project from the Department of Government Efficiency, the new advisory body announced by President-elect Donald Trump. Led by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the unofficial department has been tasked with devising strategies to curb excessive federal spending and eliminate unnecessary government regulations.

“This is a wasteful vanity project, burning billions in taxpayer cash, with little prospect for completion in the next decade,” Ramaswamy wrote of the California project in late November.

Kiley, who also sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has instead advocated for federal funds to go “towards real infrastructure needs” of Californians, such as improvements to existing roads.

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