Published Monday, May 19, 2008 9:36 PM PDT
Burbank Leader
Man stabbed to death in Del Taco lot
Police say dispute over a woman led to a Glendale man being slain near
Burbank border.
By Jason Wells

NORTHWEST GLENDALE – Two men, who were arrested on suspicion of murder in the
Saturday stabbing death of a 30-year-old Glendale man, are scheduled to be
arraigned today, authorities said.

Avetis Barnasyan, 24, is accused of stabbing Hayk Torosyan in the upper body
during a fight in the Del Taco parking lot at 2101 W. Glenoaks Blvd. at
about 2:15 a.m. Saturday before fleeing the scene, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom
Lorenz said.

Police found Torosyan, who had tried to drive away after the attack, bleeding
in his car from an unknown number of stab wounds about a block away from the
fast-food restaurant, Lorenz said. Torosyan was taken to Los Angeles
County-USC Medical Center, where doctors later pronounced him dead.

An autopsy to determine the number of wounds and exact cause of death was
scheduled to be completed today, said Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Los
Angeles County coroner’s office.

Torosyan and Barnasyan, also a Glendale resident, were in a feud over a
woman that `they both mutually knew,’ Lorenz said.

The fight started when Torosyan – who arrived with his friend, 40-year-old
North Hollywood resident Brian Herbert – confronted Barnasyan in the parking
lot over the woman, Lorenz said. Sometime during the scuffle, Barnasyan
retrieved a knife and stabbed Torosyan, he added.

Barnasyan fled the scene but returned to cooperate with authorities, Lorenz
said. Herbert, who had stayed at the scene of the attack, was also arrested
on suspicion of murder since he had arrived to `engage in a fight or some type
of confrontation … and as a result, committed a criminal act and then
someone died,’ Lorenz added.

It was business as usual Monday at the Del Taco. While the restaurant has a
24-hour drive-through, workers at the restaurant said they were not on shift
Saturday morning and hadn’t heard about the stabbing.

Barnasyan and Herbert are in police custody and are expected to be arraigned
today after detectives present their murder case to the Los Angeles County
district attorney’s office.

The incident occurred on the Burbank border – the restaurant is inside
Burbank’s jurisdiction, the parking lot in Glendale’s. It is Glendale’s second
homicide of the year.

In the first, the district attorney’s office in March filed murdercharges
against 27-year-old Eagle Rock resident Ana Regina Lim for the death of her
20-month-old baby.

Mikea had been in a coma since March 5, when she was taken to Glendale
Memorial Hospital from her grandparents’ home – where she and Lim were
staying – with severe head injuries, police said.

Lim was arrested and then released on $100,000 bail for child-endangerment
charges, but was arrested a day later on suspicion of murder after Mikea was
transferred to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and declared brain-dead.
She was later taken off life support and died.

A shooting death in January at Forest Lawn cemetery occurred in Los Angeles’
jurisdiction along the Glendale border.

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