Woman’s Death Called ‘Crime of Opportunity’

Pasadena police say they believe a recent robbery and murder of a hospital pharmacist in the city’s Upper Hastings Ranch area was “a crime of opportunity.”

Jolene Hori, 34, was shot once in the chest during the holdup, which occurred at 9 p.m. Friday outside her home in the 1000 block of Riviera Drive, investigators said.

Police Lt. Van Anthony said Hori, a woman friend and the friend’s 8-year-old son had just returned to the house after dining at a Monrovia restaurant. Hori was unlocking the door when two gunmen approached and tried to take the friend’s purse, he said.

“There was grabbing and then a struggle,” Anthony said. “During the struggle, the gun went off.”

The men fled in a brown, four-door full-size American car, believed to be an early-1980s model, the lieutenant said.

Hori died at St. Luke Medical Center.

The friend and her son were not injured. Police declined to identify the two, citing concerns for their safety.

Investigators say they believe the robbers did not follow the group from the restaurant, but were looking for victims in the upper-middle-class neighborhood where Hori lived alone.

“The motive is robbery, and at this point, we are feeling it was just a crime of opportunity,” Anthony said.

The lieutenant said witnesses have provided only sketchy descriptions of the killers.

Hori’s co-workers at Santa Teresita Hospital in Duarte this week were reeling from news of her death.

“She was very well liked. This whole thing is a tremendous shock to us,” said Mike Costello, chief executive officer of the 253-bed medical facility, which is owned by the Carmelite Sisters. “It’s a tremendous loss for us and her family. We’re a religious institution, and the sisters are including her in their prayers daily.”

Hori was hired by the hospital in 1987, a year after she received her doctorate in pharmacy from USC. She grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and graduated from Pasadena High School. Her family lives in Altadena.

“Jolene was extremely dedicated to her profession,” said Jerry Gonzales, the hospital’s pharmacy director. “She would stay late, or do whatever was necessary to dispense prescriptions or help the nursing staff.”

Hori also organized going-away dinners for pharmacy interns and spent her own money on holiday decorations for the department, Gonzales said.

Her hobbies included outdoor excursions.

“She loved to do freshwater fishing,” Gonzales said. “She would go backpacking in the High Sierras and go fishing there.”

Funeral services will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday at First Presbyterian Church, 2775 N. Lincoln Ave., Altadena.