Murder-suicide results in death of rabbi in Hollywood

Mordechai Bayer, a 50-year-old Los Angeles-based commercial property manager, was shot and killed on Monday, July 19.

At just after noon, Bayer was believed to be attempting to collect rent money from a tenant, Sung Chul Pak, 40, who ran a T-shirt store in the 5400 block of West Sunset Boulevard,  when Pak shot Bayer, then turned the gun on himself, committing suicide, according to Lieutenant Bob Binder of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The official police report refers to the crime as a “murder-suicide.”

Bayer lived in Valley Village in the San Fernando Valley. He was married and had six children as well as grandchildren. He was ordained as a rabbi, committed to studying Torah and he frequently held services out of his home, according to Ed Kinsbursky, who knew Bayer personally. Kinsbursky described Bayer as “friendly and outgoing.”

The reason for the shooting remains unclear, police said. One news report alleged that a fistfight between Bayer and Pak preceded the shooting, but the LAPD’s Binder said there was no evidence of a fistfight having occurred.

“We truly don’t know what happened inside the store, and we may never know,” Binder said.

Binder added that aside from Bayer and Pak, nobody was present in the store at the store at the time of the shooting.

Police do not believe anybody else was involved with the shooting but are continuing to investigate to get more background information on Bayer and Pak.

The LAPD report says that police called to the crime scene recovered a gun registered to Pak’s name. That a small business owner in the neighborhood, which is one block east of Western would keep a gun in the store is not surprising, Binder said.

“It’s not a high crime area, but it’s an area where crime is a concern,” Binder said.

The family could not be reached for comment.