YORBA LINDA : Body of Slain Man Found in Apartment

The body of a 23-year-old man who had been shot to death was discovered in his apartment Wednesday just after midnight. It was found by a friend who broke into the apartment because he was worried at not having seen the victim for several days.

Police identified the victim as Arash Nakhjavani, who had been shot in the head and torso. They said he may have been dead for several days.

Shawn Curran, a neighbor in the apartment building in the 25000 block of Cross Creek Drive, said, “We hadn’t seen him (Nakhjavani) in a few days but just thought maybe he was out of town. We were sleeping and all of a sudden we heard his buddy screaming, ‘He’s dead!’ ”

Police Sgt. Ed McDonald said there did not appear to have been an earlier forced entry and that robbery probably wasn’t involved in the slaying because valuables had not been taken from the apartment.

“It’s possible that he knew the person who shot him but we don’t know for sure,” McDonald said.

Police said they had yet to uncover any suspects. An autopsy was to have been performed Wednesday.

Nakhjavani moved into the apartment about a month ago and had not been involved in any problems, according to his neighbor.

“He was a young guy on his own,” Curran said. “He was a nice guy--the kind of neighbor who would say hello and ask how you’re doing. He had invited me over for a beer but I never made it over there.”

Police and residents said violence is uncommon in the sprawling, Mediterranean-style apartment complex on the eastern edge of the city.

“When you live in a neighborhood like this, you don’t expect these kinds of things to happen,” Curran said. “That’s why you pay the money, so you feel relaxed and safe.”

Nakhjavani’s death is the first homicide in Yorba Linda in 1994. The city had one homicide last year, McDonald said.