LOCAL : Auto Shop Operator Shot Down in Mercedes in ‘Execution Hit’
Two men ambushed and gunned down an auto shop operator as he sat in his new Mercedes outside his brother’s gated home on North Crescent Heights Boulevard in Los Angeles’ Fairfax District.
Eli Yacobov, 40, was killed instantly when the two men rushed up and fired at least 20 shots from an assault rifle through the windows of the silver luxury car at 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, police said. Witnesses said the gunfire appeared to come from an automatic or semiautomatic weapon.
“It appeared to be an execution hit,” Lt. Willie Pannell said, although detectives had not determined a motive for the slaying. Robbery was ruled out.
Yacobov, an Israel native who had lived in Los Angeles for more than a decade, owned a shop that supplied spare parts for Mercedeses and also was in the construction business, according to police and family friends. His parents recently returned to Israel after selling an Israeli restaurant on Fairfax Avenue.
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