Man Slain in Melrose Avenue Antique Gallery

In a case heavy with intrigue but light on clues, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies Monday night were trying to unravel the baffling events surrounding the murder of a 44-year-old man inside a plush Melrose Avenue antique gallery.

“There are endless possibilities at this point,” said Sheriff’s Homicide Lt. Joe Brown. “It’s a matter of tracing the last hours of the victim’s life and the people he was in contact with.”

Deputies learned of the killing around 2 p.m. after several callers reported hearing gunfire at the Shapes Galerie, just blocks from some of the city’s trendiest shops and nightspots.

Late into the evening, even as the sheet-draped body was wheeled into a coroner’s van, deputies had not released the man’s identity, other than to say he was either an owner or an employee of the shop. But they said there appeared to have been no struggle or signs of forced entry, no weapon was recovered and the victim suffered at least one wound to the upper body.

According to nearby merchants, the Shapes gallery specializes in French antiques and reproductions. It is located alongside other upscale antique and designer stores in a quiet West Hollywood neighborhood near La Cienega Boulevard. Just slightly to the east, that low-key atmosphere is replaced by the hordes of tourists and locals who flock to Melrose’s restaurants and clubs.

Although hundreds of murders occur each year in Los Angeles County, this one promptly drew an onslaught of news media because of its unlikely setting--and because Memorial Day typically provides little in the way of breaking news.

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Numerous TV trucks--satellite antennas extended toward the cloudy skies--lined Melrose Avenue. Reporters peppered deputies for the smallest tidbits on the case. Failing that, they speculated among themselves.

One local television news program led its broadcast with the gaudy teaser: “Murder on Melrose.” And that was enough to bring neighborhood resident Julie Freeland, and many others, out of their homes for a look.

“You don’t expect things like this to happen around here,” said Freeland, an agent who was accompanied by her husband and their big dog. “At the same time, we realize we’re in the city.”

Freeland and other longtime neighborhood residents remembered another Memorial Day five years ago when the serenity of their neighborhood was shattered. It was the day that Linda Cowan, the daughter of Hollywood publicist Warren Cowan, was killed by a drunk driver, drawing a crush of police and press.

“Every Memorial Day, we think of her death,” said Julie Freeland.

Now, they have another to remember.