Linda Farzan-Kashani, 54, was shot to death on Wednesday, Feb. 5. at 7:25pm in the 5100 block of Hesperia Avenue in Encino. Her death has been ruled a homicide, and police have arrested her husband, Shaharam (Sean) Farzan, 64.
According to close friends of the wife, it was a tragedy waiting to happen.
A few minutes before the shooting, Linda was visiting the home of Rabbi Bijan Zangan and his wife, Natalie. The couple had been helping her for months. Rabbi Zangan, who leads a small Iranian-Jewish synagogue, Kol Eliezer, in the back of his house, told The Journal that Linda, used to visit them often. That night, she visited the coupe with her 13-year-old son whom she used to homeschool.
According to friends of Linda Farzan, she wanted to divorce her husband and filed for divorce in November 2022, seeking spousal and child support.
“Just two minutes before it happened, she was in our house,” said Zangan. “When she left, I heard pew, pew, pew. I thought maybe it’s just construction, and then all of a sudden, my heart dropped. After I heard the gunshots, I went outside, looked around and saw the son running toward me screaming, he went in the house and we locked the door. After a few seconds I went back outside and saw her lying on the street with her face down.”
Some eyewitnesses saw a man running away; he was apprehended two blocks away on Ventura Blvd and was identified as the woman’s husband.
Zangan said his wife, Natalie, was very close to Linda and had been offering her support. “She is very devastated by what happened.”
The Farzans, who lived in Santa Monica, have two more children who are now staying with their grandparents in Woodland Hills.
Shaharam Farzan is being held on $3 million bail.
The Chesed Fund had opened a GoFundMe to help the three children with the goal of raising $300,000.
https://thechesedfund.com/icaretocareinc/help-three-children-after-horrific-loss
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.