Sean Avery. Image via: Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images Gunshots rang out at Sean Avery and Hilary Rhoda’s Hollywood Hills home on Tuesday afternoon, and the couple was not there when it happened. According to TMZ, the former NHL player’s contractor was working at the property when a tire on the contractor’s vehicle was struck by gunfire. Los Angeles police responded to the area shortly before 5 PM after receiving a shots-fired call, and one person is now in custody. No injuries have been reported.The situation had already been tense earlier that morning. LAPD was called to the residence around 10 AM after the contractor reported that a neighbor had been harassing and threatening workers at the property. Officers arrived but found no immediate evidence of threats and took no report. Hours later, the shots were fired.
Sean Avery shooting: What we know about the suspect and the investigation
Sean Avery. Image via: Neilson Barnard/ Getty Images for Samsung
Multiple sources familiar with the situation told TMZ that the person taken into custody is a neighbor of Avery and Rhoda. Law enforcement sources confirmed the earlier complaint described a pattern of harassment from that same neighbor directed at the couple’s contractors, suggesting the confrontation had been building for some time before it turned dangerous.Neither Avery nor Rhoda was present at the Hollywood Hills residence during the shooting. The investigation remains ongoing, and the full sequence of events leading up to the incident has not yet been established publicly.
Sean Avery and Hilary Rhoda: Where things stand personally
Sean Avery and Hilary Rhoda. Image via: Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
The incident comes at an interesting moment in Avery’s personal life. The former New York Rangers forward and Rhoda, a well-known Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, went through a publicly difficult stretch after she filed for divorce in July 2022 and was subsequently granted a restraining order against him in September 2023.Avery filed a request in the Los Angeles court to have that restraining order terminated, reasoning that the couple had reconciled and had been living together for over a year. The filing, obtained by TMZ, stated plainly that “mom and dad have reconciled.” The restraining order was set to expire September 11. The couple married in 2015 and share a five-year-old son named Nash.Avery, who retired from professional hockey in 2012 after a career that included two stints with the Rangers, has remained a recognizable figure in New York and Los Angeles social circles long after his playing days ended.
