Man, 87, Kills Wife, Self at Fairfax Store

By MATHIS CHAZANOV

June 22, 1989 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

A 79-year-old woman was shot to death by her estranged husband Wednesday morning in the public dining room of the May Company store on Wilshire Boulevard, where she had gone to play cards with friends.

Then, as four dozen elderly patrons looked on in horror, the 87-year-old retired carpenter turned the handgun on himself and fired a single round into his head.

Authorities said Evelyn Wasserstein, a Culver City resident, was struck in the neck and chest by at least three bullets and pronounced dead on arrival at Westside Hospital. Beverly Hills resident Jack Wasserstein died instantly in the Art Deco fifth-floor restaurant, Los Angeles Police Lt. Richard Iddings said.

Friends of the couple, who had been married 13 years, said that Mrs. Wasserstein had been fearful of her husband’s temper after she decided three months ago that they should separate and divorce.

Mrs. Wasserstein, who filed divorce papers in Santa Monica Superior Court in late March, asked the court to order her husband not to “contact, molest, attack, strike (or) threaten (her).”

The bloodshed occurred about 10:15 a.m. as Mrs. Wasserstein returned from a restroom to a dining table that her friends were preparing for a weekly card game.

Ruthie Brodey, a regular in the card game, was unfolding a tablecloth when she noticed Wasserstein stride across the dining room, a revolver in hand.

“Evelyn turned around, and she saw him and she said, ‘What are you doing here?’ So he gave her one shot and another shot. And then he turned and shot himself.

“They all started screaming, all the old ladies,” Brodey continued. “To see something like this, I don’t believe it. You read it in the papers, but you don’t believe a person can do that.”

Shots Heard

Olive McKinney, 67, was next door in the travel department when the shots rang out.

“It sounded like workmen had dropped a heavy metal cabinet; we couldn’t hear each other talk,” said McKinney, who had come to the Fairfax District department store for a lecture on methods of resolving disputes.

The talk, titled “Learn Ways to Stay Out of Court,” was to have been presented in a senior citizens center sponsored by the May Company next to the restaurant. The lecture and other activities at the Older Adult Service and Information System Center, including an afternoon acting class, were canceled as a result of the shooting. The dining room was also closed for the day.

Senior citizens flock to the top-floor restaurant with the department’s store’s permission for early morning bridge and poker games, officials said.

“It’s open for coffee, and people just meet here,” explained Robert Oberosler, head of security for the department store chain.

Said Nothing

About 50 people were dining or playing cards when the shots were fired. Witnesses said Wasserstein said nothing before he pulled the trigger.

“He walked up to her and that was it,” Iddings said.

Friends of the couple said both were in their second marriage. Mrs. Wasserstein, a housewife, had at least two sons by her previous marriage. Wasserstein had at least one daughter.

In her divorce papers, Mrs. Wasserstein claimed that in mid-February, her husband “completely quit talking to (her).” She claimed that he played cards in a public park all day before returning home and eating his supper “without even saying thank you.”

Then, in early March, her husband began yelling at her constantly, accusing her of stealing his money. Eventually, she said, she changed the locks in their apartment, but her husband hired a locksmith to get back in. He later moved to Van Nuys and then to Beverly Hills.

“He was obsessed with money during our marriage,” Mrs. Wasserstein said in the court documents. “When we go to the delicatessen, they would charge a quarter for onions. So (he) carries his own onions to the restaurant with him to avoid paying another quarter.”

Charitable Activities

According to Brodey, Mrs. Wasserstein was involved in several charitable activities, including B’nai Brith and a children’s organization. She said that her friend had been in particularly good spirits recently.

“One of her grandchildren was supposed to get married this weekend. She was so happy. She said it was going to be some weekend.”