Killing of Woman on Patio Is a Jolt to Hermosa Beach Residents

Expressions of anxiety replaced the breezy atmosphere of Hermosa Beach Wednesday, a day after the wife of a prominent doctor was stabbed to death on her patio, allegedly by a woman who told police she sleeps on the beach.

Sharon K. Hendrix, 29, was charged with first-degree murder Wednesday in the stabbing of Gillian M. Cooper, 40, wife of Irwin Cooper, an anesthesiologist whose large beachfront house is a community landmark.

Hendrix will be arraigned today in Superior Court in Torrance. Police said she had about a half dozen arrests since 1982, on charges ranging from prostitution to assault with a deadly weapon, several convictions on misdemeanor counts, and a string of aliases, including Jody Foster and Sharon Bianci.

“Probably a mental case,” said sheriff’s investigator Gary Kotler. Hendrix had identification on her listing an address in Banning, but told police that she is a transient who sleeps on the beach.

Gillian Cooper and her mother were standing on the patio of the home along the Strand, the promenade that divides the beach from rows of single-family homes, about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday when Hendrix climbed over a three-foot wall, police said.

Cooper warned the woman she was trespassing and Hendrix cursed her, pulled a knife with an 8-inch blade and rushed at her, stabbing her once in the chest, Kotler said. She died about 45 minutes later at South Bay Hospital.

“As far as we are aware, they were complete strangers to one another,” said Lt. Michael Lavin of the Hermosa Beach Police Department. “The victim and her mother were standing around minding their own business. They didn’t provoke this person.”

Officials and neighbors, as well as joggers and strollers along the Strand, found the incident troubling because it raised questions about the unprotected outdoor patio and sidewalk activities of the city.

At Martha’s 22nd Street Grill, two women were talking about the killing as they waited to order. They would not give their names, saying they are uneasy about their personal security.

“It is shocking, horrible,” one said. “I live on the Strand.

“Part of the attraction to the area is that we can walk and bike to our friends and talk over the fence. It’s very public. . . . We don’t want to be like Malibu, behind gates.”

Nick Hawn, 19, an El Camino College student who administered first aid to Cooper, and Heather Chachulski, 16, a Redondo Beach resident who regularly skates along the Strand, were among several who said that more transients seem to be coming to Hermosa Beach.

However, Hermosa Beach Councilman Chuck Sheldon said he has not detected any increase in transients in Hermosa Beach and will not recommend any increase in police patrols near the beach. “I can only hope that it was an absolute freak occurrence,” he said.

Nevertheless, he added, “I am certainly going to be more cautious, as everyone should be. It is just incredible to me, just mind-boggling.”

Mayor Etta Simpson also said she is not aware of any increase in homeless people in Hermosa Beach. “We will certainly be alert to it,” she said. “I walk on the beach. . . . I have never felt frightened or bothered by people who use the beach.”

Sheldon said the Cooper home, a Spanish-style structure with as much as 5,000 square feet of floor space, had just been remodeled.