Detectives Probe Armenian-Related Restaurant Homicide
Diaspora — By Liana Aghajanian on April 6, 2010 12:29 pmFour Armenian men were shot and killed at a Mediterranean restaurant over the weekend in North Hollywood’s Valley Village district, with Los Angeles Department Homicide Detectives still struggling to find the suspects or a motive.
On April 3, around 4:30 p.m., suspects walked into the Hot Spot Cafe on Riverside Blvd and fired multiple gunshots, according to a statement released by the LAPD.
Hayk Yegnanyan, 25, Sarkis Karadjian, 26, Harut Baburyan, 28 and Vardan Tofalyan, 31 died as a result of gunshot wounds.
Although the shooting does not appear to be random, the motive for the crime is unknown. Law enforcement sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity to the Los Angeles Times said they believed the shooting was tied to Armenian or Eurasian organized crime but are unsure of the motive.
The LAPD declined to comment to ianyan regarding any details of the case and calls to Hot Spot Cafe went unanswered.
The Times also reported that Baburyan, of Glendale had a criminal record according to court records and interviews.
“He was convicted in 2000 of receiving stolen property and sentenced to 18 days in jail and five years’ probation, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office,” reported The Times. ” Six years later, he pleaded no contest to illegal possession of a semiautomatic weapon and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.”
Armenian Power tattoo/ photobucket.com
It also unknown if the shooting was gang related, however unnamed law enforcement sources told the Times on Sunday, April 4, that they believed the shooting might have involved gangs.
The most prominent Armenian gang in Los Angeles is known as “Armenian Power,” which rose after the collapse of the Soviet Union caused Armenian immigration waves to the area.
Sam Salazar, senior lead officer of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Northeast Division, which patrols much of Armenian Power’s turf, first encountered AP in 1988 when the owners of a now-defunct Hollywood carwash complained about the gang’s graffiti. Salazar met with the gang’s leader, Vahag “Boxer” Hagopian, a powerfully built man Salazar remembered as “5 foot, 9 inches tall and as wide as an ox,” according to a 1997 Los Angeles Times article.
The shootings come just one week after the slaying of Karine Hakobyan, who was found by her 14-year-old daughter fatally shot behind the wheel of her car.
Hakoyban’s killing came a little more than a year after her husband Khachik Safaryan, 43, and their 9-year-old daughter Lucine were found shot to death outside their apartment in Hollywood’s Little Armenia on Dec. 11, 2008.
Detectives investigating the killing of her husband said there appeared to be a link between the crimes, reported the Associated Press.
**UPDATE**
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that police have identified a suspect in the killing of four people at a Valley Village restaurant.
Nerses Galstyan, photo provided by LAPD
Nerses Galstyan, 28, is suspected and believed to be the sole shooter in the attack. He is not in custody but has been indicted in federal court on suspicion of dealing firearms without a license, reporting The Times.
He is wanted on a federal indictment for weapons charges, according to Police Chief Charlie Beck at a news conference
Galstyan was attending a birthday memorial celebration inside the Hot Spot cafe, when a dispute erupted with several men in the party and Galstyan began firing multiple rounds, hitting and killing four men, Beck said.
Galstyan was attending a birthday memorial for an acquaintance who had died in a traffic accident a year earlier on April 3 inside the Hot Spot Cafe when he got into a dispute with several men at the party, Beck said. In anger, Galstyan fired multiple rounds, hitting and killing four men, the chief said.
“These are people who had some standing or relationship that may or may not have contributed to this,” Beck said. “This was not a random act.”
A federal grand jury indicted Galstyan on Friday on suspicion of dealing firearms without a license and possessing a weapon with an obliterated serial number.
Tags: armenian gang, armenian homicide, armenian mafia, armenian power, armenian shooting, Harut Baburyan, Hayk Yegnanyan, homicide, hot spot cafe, north hollywood, north hollywood shooting, Sarkis Karadjian, valley village, valley village armenian shooting, Vardan Tofalyan
Digg This
Bookmark
Stumble
18 Comments
When I heard about the restaurant killings last week, I thought about the Hakobyan killings and felt they were related. As an Armenian I am embarassed that this sort of terrible crimes occur, especially the little girl that was killed. Now the older daughter has no family and is in protective care. What kind of animal would kill children, let alone a mother, father a family?
We Armenians bitch and moan about the Armenian genocide and what it did to our Ancestor’s families, how many of our grandparents were left as orphans yet we have some Animal who is a predator in our community? There has to be someone that knows something, offer some award money and I say lets give him some “Armmenian Justice” so he doesn’t kill again and embarass our community further.
We are destroying ourselves from within. WE have caused all the hatered against our people in Los Angeles by glorifying the people who make a career of scamming and committing fraud aginst this great country that took us in. I am embarrassed for us all.
Great job on reporting this news story. As an Angelino, I commend your decision to bring light to a story that would otherwise be ignored or repressed by the Armenian community.
Further more, we shouldn’t beat us up that much. Gangs exist everywhere, of every culture, and it is an impossible task to eradicate such a phenomena. What hurts me is that I often times hear stories involving violence, drunk driving, fraud, and court cases in national media as opposed to stories highlighting VICTORIES of our people. We must not dwell on the past, but move forward. Once our mentality is in the right place, we will then succeed in law, medicine, entertainment, and etc., so that then and ONLY then will we exhibit a positive light on our culture.
The whole community already knows that this wasn’t gang hit…stop bringing gangs and organized crime to play…for those who doesn’t know AP is part of Mexican Mafia already…so what kind of journalism is this? just typing nonsense?
I’m not Armenian, but I want it known that generally non-Armenians don’t look down on Armenians, or think all the negative things that you think we do. For every bad story I read with an “ian” last name, there are twice as many good stories. Successful businessmen, doctors, lawyers, judges, police officers, etc.
And I don’t think people really care so much about the petty frauds that seem to go on in some parts of your community. However, as pointed out here, killings involving women and children… killings in public places with dozens of bystanders that can be hurt or killed… these kinds of things DO look very bad and I am happy to see that your community is outraged by this. Let everyone know that these killers do not represent the hardworking Armenian community.
What a Grief! What a Pain, Shame…animalistic action of human kind!
I am not an Armenian…But I know that they are creators, positive contributors, scholars, doctors, businessmen, sportsmen… I can go on and list all the positive traits of this nation…But…there is no apple tree without worms… We shall not blame the tree for those apples nor for the worms.
We shall Not blame or judge the entire community for and by the Vicious, Cruel, Atrocious, Dreadful… act of few. We shall blame only that few. The entire Black, Mexican, or Caucasian community does not take a blame for every day rapes, killings, kidnappings etc., which occurs within their own society. The Armenian Community as legal part of this Country as much as all of the Mexicans, Blacks, Asians, Caucasians and should not take any charge for its mentally disturbed and rotten fruits.
When I think of Armenians, I think of William Saroyan, Arshile Gorki, Kirk Kerkorian, Richard Hovhannisyan, Djivan Gasparyan, Andre Agassi… I think of Armenians as first nation who officially adopted Christianity even before any advanced civilization of fourth century officially recognized it as a formal religion of the country…
Dear Armenians! You have every right to be proud of who you are…But today, I bow my head with grief and sorrow in my heart for the crime committed by heartless and ferocious predator.
you reap what you sow……
what other outcome did they expect???
It was either going to be jail locked up for life, or this, this “assasination” style killing that took place.
there was no other way out, they were in too deep!!! messed with too many people, and this time, messed with the wrong people.
Why does there have to be a monetary reward? Just do what’s right and moral
Well covered, as it should be, in this magazine. For myself I have extremely good associations about the Armenian people, but readers should know when such tragic crimes arise. It is a common thing to try to “shoot the messenger” of bad news, instead of being grateful for being informed.
Everyone in this community knows that this asct wasnt Gang related. You as an Armenian should not be embarrased of such acts caused by others. This is a tragedy, but there is no reason to blame every Armenian on the face of this earth. Such acts happen in every community and different types of people. Who are you to blame our culture? Your a discrace!!!
This is soooooooooooo horrible what Armenians are doing to each other. I am Armenian, but am ashamed of what is going around in the community. I just wish that U.S. Government gets all the people that are responsible for all the committed crimes and serves them with justice. I really feel bad for the families that have lost their loved ones.
Kez Inch, why are you so burned? I wonder if you would write the same things and express yourself the same way if one of the 4 men were one of your loved ones? I’m assuming not. So don’t talk shit after the people who have passed, let their souls rest for God’s sake. Are you human or what? How can you talk like this. These people had not done nothing wrong, and by now we all know that none of them were involved in any organized crime or gangs. This savagely shooting occured because of an argument, but is that a reason to kill anyone, so I suggest you shut up kez inch. Kep your cruelty to yourself. God sees everything so you will be punished for your bad heart. this is not a laughing matter. I hope strength to all of your families, Vart, Harut, Sako and Hayko. If you only knew Vart… Be well.
Hurt, its the likes of all involve that make me ashamed of my own culture. If you cared so much maybe you should have told Vart to not hang out with thugs. We all have to raise our kids the right way and today many are missing from their kids lives. Face it head on and fix the issues of this generation or else there will be many more Varts and many more Harouts and we all will suffer
it wasnt gang related
love you sakoo r.i.p
Armenians are just Arabs or Israelis or Turks who happen to be Christians. They look like Arabs, listen to similar music to Turks, and have the same hairy bodies, the same ugly noses, the same unibrow, the same dark circles around their eyes that makes them look like devils.
I totally Agree with “Doesnt Matter” im sick of every crime that occurs that has armenians involoved always have to give out AP’s name like since there a gang we can point all fingers at them get your fucking fact’s straight before u point fingers u mother fuckerss u dont havt to be a gang member to be violent kill a person etc…
<3 you! You will always be in my heart. R.I.P Hayk
Trackbacks