Glendale News Press
LATImes.com
April 27 2004
Local shooting suspect returns to U.S.
After allegedly killing his nephew, man fled to Armenia but returned
voluntarily after Glendale Police tracked him down.
By Darleene Barrientos, News-Press
SOUTHEAST GLENDALE – A man suspected of shooting and killing his
18-year-old nephew will be charged in his death today after
voluntarily returning to the United States from Armenia.
Glendale Police detectives have searched for 33-year-old Gaik
Shakhmuradyan since his nephew Edvin Isagulyan was shot Oct. 20.
Officers found Isagulyan, 18, with a gunshot wound to his head near
512 S. Glendale Ave. Isagulyan died the next day.
Glendale Police investigators did not get any help from Isagulyan’s
family but learned that Shakhmuradyan reportedly had fled to Abovyan,
Armenia. Glendale Police Investigator Bob Breckenridge traveled to
Armenia to find him and talk to him, with the help of the United
States embassy and Armenian law-enforcement agencies.
During an interview with Breckenridge, Shakhmuradyan offered to
return to the United States and face the charges against him.
“He asked if I could help him come back,” Breckenridge said. “He said
he wanted to come back. I think he wanted to come back because of the
living conditions he was in, and I think it was time for him to face
the family.”
Shakhmuradyan flew back to the U.S. with Breckenridge on Thursday,
where he was taken into custody by the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency. He was then arrested and booked at the Glendale
Police Department, where he was being held Monday in lieu of more
than $2-million bail.
It is believed to be the first time someone has fled to Armenia and
returned to the U.S. voluntarily to face murder charges, police said.
“A person who knows that he has pending charges for murder has not
returned [before] to face the charges of their own volition,”
Glendale Police spokesman Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.
The shooting was sparked by an argument, but detectives are still
investigating the cause, Breckenridge said.