Music Producer Slain in Home Invasion Robbery

Three armed assailants burst into the home studio of rhythm and blues music producer Hillery Davis in Toluca Lake and fatally shot him in the chest during a home invasion robbery Thursday night, police said Friday.

An aspiring female singer who had just finished auditioning for Davis was tied up during the 8 p.m. robbery but was unharmed, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

It is not clear if Davis, 52, knew his attackers, who rushed out of his home with recording equipment and then escaped in the woman’s 1965 Mustang and a Lexus they had driven to the house. Davis had lived in the Toluca Lake neighborhood since January, renting a modest home with a neat yard, and neighbors said they knew little about him. Some said they believed Davis may have been targeted, because the crime seemed so unusual for the neighborhood.

“Anything could come to a good neighborhood,” said Sabrina Won, who lives on the same street as Davis did. “But from what we heard [from police], those people came just for him.”

Police would not comment on whether the attack was random.

Neighbors heard a commotion about 8 p.m. when the woman began screaming for help. A neighbor came to her rescue and called police.

The 25-year-old woman, whose name police would not disclose, said that as she was leaving Davis’ home, three people forced their way though the front door. Two men in their 20s pointed handguns at Davis, the woman said. They were accompanied by a teenage girl.

The three tied up the woman and stole her car keys and other personal items, police said. Then they dragged Davis into a bedroom and shot him once in the chest. Davis was not fighting back when he was shot, the woman said.

The assailants fled the house in two cars, a white Lexus four-door and the woman’s olive green 1965 Mustang with California plates 4CPG917. The robbers loaded the cars with Davis’ recording equipment before they sped off, police sources said.