Woman charged in Michael Latt killing had stalked, threatened a film director, records show

When production wrapped on the film “A Thousand and One,” Jameelah Michl, an extra in the movie, made a kind gesture: She sent a gift box to the film’s director, A.V. Rockwell.

More than a year later, when the film won the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Michl sent an email to a producer about how brilliant Rockwell and the film were, according to court documents.

But when Rockwell did not return Michl’s attentions, her emails took on a different tone. Michl became threatening, said she would kill herself and told Rockwell that she owned a gun and wasn’t afraid to use it.

“My Glock is loaded as I write this,” said one handwritten letter, delivered in April. “One pull of the trigger and I’ll be free.”

On Monday, Michl acted on her threat to use the weapon, police say. She didn’t turn the firearm on herself or the director, but on Michael Latt, a social justice advocate and friend of Rockwell’s, police say. Michl targeted Latt in his Mid-City home because he was “friends with a woman [Michl] had been stalking,” according to a news release from the district attorney’s office. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón did not name Rockwell as the stalking victim.

Michl was charged Thursday with murder and first-degree residential burglary. She is also accused of using a handgun during the commission of the crime.

According to the office, Michl went to Latt’s home, knocked on the door and forced herself into the residence once it was opened by one of the occupants. Armed with a semiautomatic handgun, Michl then shot and killed Latt, prosecutors say.

Michael Latt’s apartment building in Mid-City.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Eighty-five pages of court documents reviewed by The Times were filed in June as part of Rockwell’s request for a restraining order against Michl. The extensive exhibits appear to show Michl’s obsession with the director. Even as Rockwell’s career seemed to be flourishing — “A Thousand and One” was her directorial debut — she couldn’t sleep at night because of the disturbing messages she was receiving from Michl, Rockwell said in court documents.

“The emotional distress has [led] to lack of sleep, inability to eat and concentrate,” she wrote. “Panic attacks caused by the anxiety and fear for my safety has meant that I have been unable to return to work. Her messages have disrupted my professional relationships.”

California

‘Devastating loss’: Hollywood figure killed inside home, LAPD says

Michael Latt, a marketing consultant and social justice advocate with deep ties to Hollywood, was killed Monday at his Los Angeles home. He was 33.

Nov. 30, 2023

It was a far cry from the beginning of their relationship, which seemed innocent.

Michl had worked as a background actor and as a stand-in for lead actor Teyana Taylor on “A Thousand and One.”

After shooting wrapped in 2021, Michl sent a gift box to Rockwell, according to court documents. A producer on the film, Christine D’Souza, passed the message along to Rockwell.

“That’s very sweet of her,” Rockwell responded to D’Souza.

When the film premiered at Sundance, Michl wrote again.

“Just wanted to ask you to pass on my congrats to AV!!!” Michl wrote in a January email to another staff member on the show. “I know l probably went a little overboard with the gift box I sent her LOL. But l’m hoping now after all the rave reviews and people telling her how much the film meant to them that she sees why I went all out and knows how incredible she is.”

Rockwell and Latt attended Sundance in January 2023 and took photos together. Latt posted one on Instagram with the caption, “Congratulations to @AVRockwell on your incredible feature film directorial debut, A Thousand and One.”

Michl continued sending follow-up emails to Rockwell throughout the year, though Rockwell does not appear to have responded. Often Michl wrote that it was the final time she would be writing, but she would always message again.

The emails began with extreme congratulations but grew progressively more frustrated as time went on.

“As you continue to bask in the glory of ‘A Thousand and One,’ l want you to remember, and not forget all the hell that people went through to help bring your masterpiece to the screen,” Michl wrote in an April 29 email.

Days later, she wrote again threatening suicide.

“I’m taking my Glock into Griffith Park and not coming out,” she said in a May 3 email.

Rockwell got the restraining order reissued on numerous occasions, according to court documents. She declined to comment Thursday when reached by The Times. It was unclear when Michl last reached out to her.

Police were contacted around 6 p.m. Monday about a shooting at Latt’s residence in the 900 block of Alandele Avenue. Officers arrived to find him with a gunshot wound to his head. He was transported to a hospital, where he died of his injuries.

Michael Latt’s apartment building is at left.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

A preliminary investigation found Latt, 33, was shot by a woman who had entered his home without his permission. Michl, 36, was arrested on suspicion of murder at the scene and is being held in lieu of $3-million bail.

Michl was described by law enforcement as a person living in her vehicle, which was parked nearby and removed as evidence by police.

Latt did not know Michl, and initial information indicated she was not given access to the home, law enforcement sources told The Times.

Latt was the chief executive of Lead With Love, an entertainment marketing consulting firm he founded in 2019 with an emphasis on elevating Black creatives and other underrepresented voices in Hollywood. He was the son of film producer David Latt and Michelle Satter, the founding senior director at the Sundance Institute. His brother, Franklin Latt, is an agent at CAA.