Man Kills Woman and Himself in Valley Home

The former boyfriend of a 42-year-old woman fatally shot her and then killed himself Wednesday in a hilly, fashionable Tarzana neighborhood, police said.

Kathleen Anne Hirsch-Jolly was shot several times in the kitchen of her two-story house in the 19600 block of Rosita Street. The body of her ex-boyfriend was found in the closet of an upstairs bedroom with a bullet wound to the head, police said. Police withheld the identity of the man because next of kin had not been notified.

It was the second double killing in 10 days in the west San Fernando Valley.

About 9 a.m., Hirsch-Jolly let a handyman into he house, Det. Rick Swanston of the Los Angeles Police Department said. Once inside, the worker encountered a man carrying at least three guns who ordered him to sit on a couch and led the woman into another room.

Moments later, the handyman heard several shots, dashed outside and called police, Swanston said. Two semiautomatic pistols and a shotgun were found, authorities said.

Joan Webb-Ewen, who lives across the street, said Hirsch-Jolly was an artist in her 40s who appeared to live alone and had an 18-year-old daughter. She said her neighbor was kind, generous and independent.

On Feb. 5, the bodies of William and Bertha Lasky were discovered by firefighters responding to a blaze set at the elderly couple’s West Hills home.

No arrests have been made in that case.

In the first six weeks of this year, there have been at least three homicides in the LAPD’s West Valley Division, compared with four in all of last year.