Man Wounds Woman, Then Kills Himself

CANOGA PARK —  A man shot and critically wounded a Canoga Park woman in the frontyard of her home Monday and then shot himself to death as the limousine driver he hired looked on, police said.

The man, whom the victim’s sister described as an ex-boyfriend of the woman in his 60s, arrived shortly before 1 p.m. at the home in the 22300 block of Wyandotte Street.

The woman, identified as Sherry Schwartz, 54, an IRS auditor, was shot once in the chest and once in the abdomen, police and medical officials said.

She was listed in critical but stable condition late Monday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center after undergoing surgery.

Police did not immediately identify the man, who they said turned the gun on himself after shooting Schwartz. He was later pronounced dead.

After the man got out of the limousine, the driver--whose name and employer were withheld by police--saw the man and Schwartz arguing on her front lawn, said Det. Rick Swanston of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division.

“The man put Miss Schwartz in a chokehold, at which time he pulled out a gun and shot her twice,” Swanston said.

Police recovered a .38-caliber revolver believed to have been used in the shootings.

Neighbors who rushed to the scene after hearing the shots heard Schwartz call out: “Can you help me? Can you help me?”

Residents, some of whom said they had seen the man walking through the neighborhood several times in recent weeks, said the incident is atypical for the area.

“There’s never any activity like this over here,” said Carol Burns, a neighbor and retired nurse.

Schwartz’s ex-husband, who declined to give his name, said Schwartz had lived alone in the home since they divorced in the early 1990s. He said she has two grown children.

Property records show she purchased the home in 1978.

The incident was the latest in a series of violent events in the West Valley area.

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

No arrests have been made in that case.

On Feb. 14, a 42-year-old woman was fatally shot in the kitchen of her Tarzana home.

Police said a former boyfriend killed the woman and later turned the gun on himself.

Police do not believe any of the incidents are connected, despite similarities in the shootings.

Monday’s attack, Swanston said, is “like that shooting in Tarzana. This is another ‘If I can’t have you, no one can’ situation.”

*

Times staff writers Erika Hayasaki and Roberto Manzano contributed to this story.