After his friend Stuart Herman found him spreading head injuries on the kitchen floor in Encino’s house, John Berliner attempted to bring him back for more than five minutes as the 911 operator provided coaching in CPR.
Audio recordings of Berliner’s struggling 911 call, which he heard count the chest compressions, provided an emotional climax to the recent trial of a man charged with the shooting in which Herman died, despite his friend’s efforts to save him.
On March 18, a ju umpire from the San Fernando Valley convicted Timothy Kirkpatrick of killing 80-year-old Herman. Kirkpatrick was convicted of all charges. First-degree murder, robbery, assault with a firearm, illegal possession of a firearm. He and his alleged accomplice Hakop Keloyan were arrested in March 2022, about two months after the murder.
Before the trial began, Keroyan pleaded guilty to two gun charges on March 10th and was not sued for additional charges, including robbery, armed assault and identity theft.
Both men are expected to be sentenced in April.
Deputy Los Angeles County District Atty. Ranna Jahanshahi said she was the best friend that Herman and Berlinna met when they married their Berlin sister. Their friendship survived the couple’s divorce, and when Berliner lived abroad he returned to LA to check out his older peers.
Kirkpatrick’s lawyers argued that there was no physical evidence linking his client to a crime. The defense called for a NO witness during the trial.
In March 2022, Berlin stayed at Herman’s English Tudor House, in the 4500 block of Densmore Avenue. “They were going to catch up for a long time after these two best friends spoke,” Jahanshahi said.
On the day of the shooting, the two friends had just returned from grocery shopping when they noticed a “brand new BMW that is not familiar to the driveway,” Yahanshahi said.
Oddly, Berlin told investigators they began checking the backyard and pool area before entering the house to search for the room.
As he walked through the house, Berliner told police, he pointed out that many doors left Ajar. This is unusual as Herman insisted on leaving the door closed so that the cats don’t run away.
“So, every door John saw was open, so he was a little more worried,” she said.
Berlin recalls seeing a barrel of guns protruding from behind the door and a man screaming, “We’re the police!” He then tells him to descend to the ground. Just as he did, the gunman pistol hit him before running downstairs.
After a while, Berliner heard the gunshot.
“I said nothing else. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t say anything, I didn’t scream or anything,” Jahanshahi said. An autopsy found marks on Herman’s face, torso and arms. This was said by a medical inspector.
Berliner tried to video the suspect he saw and his accomplice fleeing with a white BMW X6, but his hands were shaking so badly that he could only take photos with his cell phone.
He told investigators he remembers the shooter as a tall, slender man with a mustache and arms covered in tattoos.
Investigators obtained a warrant of information from Google to identify electronic devices that were in the area at the time of the murder, and ultimately led them to Kirkpatrick and Keloyan.
The man was arrested in late April 2022. Kirkpatrick was taken into custody after barricaded inside a Simi Valley home when police arrived with a search warrant. Keroyan was arrested the same day in a police attack at Sherman Oaks’ residence, where he found an illegal marijuana cultivation operation in the facility’s underground garage.
Prosecutors said surveillance video from a Range Rover dealer showed Kirkpatrick and Keroyan near Herman’s home around the time of the incident. They were also captured on video passing the property, but prosecutors said they suggested they had the location in the case.
Jahanshahi said in an interview after the verdict was announced that the government pursued more serious charges of first-degree murder based on criminal atrocities and the proximity of Herman being shot dead.
After hearing the evidence against Kirkpatrick, the ju-degree judge made the decision right, she said.
“The first and next one would have been fraudulent,” Jahanshahi said, but “it will not change the trauma experienced by the surviving victims.”
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