Woman Dies Weeks After She Was Struck by Bullets That Went Through Apartment Wall

A woman who struck by gunfire when a neighbor opened fire inside a West Hollywood apartment complex in April has died, her son told NBC4.

Larisa Pereshivaylova, a 57-year-old nurse, died Sunday, according to her 21-year-old son, Max Buydakov. After the shooting – in which she was struck twice – Pereshivaylova was diagnosed with liver cancer, for which she was not able to seek treatment due to her injuries, Buydakov said.

Her son said one bullet damaged her kidney, liver and spine, and the other landed in her neck.

“She was my pillar of support, both mentally, emotionally, financially,” Buydakov said.

The sheriff’s department said that on April 7, Joshua Findlay, Pereshivaylova’s neighbor across the hall, fired multiple shots in his unit at the Dylan Apartment Complex. The bullets went through the wall and hit Pereshivaylova in the kitchen next door as she was cooking breakfast.

Buydakov said his mother called 911 and then called him.

As emergency responders rushed Pereshivaylova to the hospital, dozens of deputies, the SWAT team and a sheriff’s department helicopter tried to get Findley into custody.

However, Findley, who already had two warrants for his arrest unrelated to the incident, had taken off. 

“It feels like these days it doesn’t matter how much of a crime lord or a criminal you are. As long as you have money, you can get yourself into a luxury apartment,” Buydakov said.

It took more than a month for investigators to make the arrest.

While the investigation continued, Pereshivaylova was initially discharged, then re-admitted to the hospital. After the shooting, doctors informed that she also had liver cancer.

“And she wasn’t able to seek treatment after she was diagnosed, because of the consequences of getting shot in her liver and her spine,” Buydakov said.

Ultimately, her condition worsened and Pereshivaylova died Sunday night.

“She wasn’t able to speak for close to a week now, but about a week ago she asked me – I’m fairly certain these were her last words – she said, ‘Don’t you think it’s time for me to go, for you to let me go?”

Buydakov was at his mother’s side on her deathbed. He said he apologized to her because she could not receive the treatment she needed.

On top of it all, Buydakov said he’s hardly heard from the Dylan; they just dropped off a gift basket when he wasn’t home. The 21-year-old college senior said he would have felt better had the company not given anything and instead sent people to visit him at the apartment.

Buydakov was close to his mother, with whom he lived. Pereshivaylova was born in Russia but raised her son in Los Angeles. Buydakov said no other family members live in the United States.

“I’m trying to take things one step at a time, but it’s overwhelming,” he said.

He has set up an online fundraiser to help with the expenses associated with his mother’s death.

“We still have to pay rent and I’m unemployed. I am a full-time student and I have been since I enrolled in school, and now I have to cover the cost of funerals, of burials, of all sorts of legal things,” Buydakov said.

Findlay remains in custody. NBC4 reached out online and over the phone, trying to reach the Dylan management to ask how Findley was able to even live at the complex and about their response in the days after the shooting. They did not reply.

Buydakov said his mother didn’t want to be remembered for the shooting but for her impact as a nurse and her help for so many patients.