ARMENIAN KILLINGS PROVE A CHALLENGE FOR LAPD

Daily Breeze
April 6 2010
CA

The shooting deaths of four Armenian men in a North Hollywood cafe is
expected to be a challenge for detectives with the Robbery-Homicide
Division, who are working today to establish a motive.

There was no official word if members of the Southern California
Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force were helping Los Angeles police
in the investigation. The multi-agency task force was formed several
years ago to help deal with such crimes.

So far, detectives have gotten conflicting accounts of what happened
Saturday afternoon at the often-closed Hot Spot Cafe, a restaurant
with dark, tinted windows at 11651 Riverside Drive.

According to the Hot Spot’s owner, a group of 30-40 had reserved
the cafe earlier that day and arrived around 1 p.m. after attending
a funeral.

Artour Balian told the Los Angeles Times the victims who were shot
were the only customers left after most of the larger group left.

Balian told The Times the men were sitting quietly, talking among
themselves and apparently at ease. He said the group was served a
traditional Armenian spread, including short ribs, sturgeon and hummus.

Balian left the cafe to go home but got a call almost immediately,
around 4:30 p.m.

"They said `hurry up hurry up, they’re killing each other,"’ Balian
told The Times.

Detectives reportedly are skeptical of some witness accounts and
unsure if there was one gunman or two. Police said one suspect was
described as an Armenian man about 30.

Three of the men at the table died where they fell, and a fourth died
at a hospital.

All four of the fatally shot men were of Armenian descent: Harut
Baburyan, 28, Sarkis Karadjian, 26, Vardan Tofalyan, 31, and Hayk
Yegnanyan, 25.

Two other wounded men, whose names have not been made public, were
hospitalized. At least 17 bullets were fired, leading to police to
believe there may have been more than one gunman.

Early Sunday, police had a white Toyota with blood splattered on it
towed away from the restaurant.

Community leaders in the Valley Village area learned a day after
the shootings that Los Angeles police were working with officers in
predominately- Armenian Glendale "to apprehend the suspects."

Police have not said if the bloodshed was connected to the shooting
death a woman in Hollywood a week earlier.

Karyn Safaryan was found shot to death in an apartment parking area
in the 5800 lbock of Lexington Avenue. Her husband and one of her
two daughters were shot to death in Hollywood in 2008. The surviving
daughter has been offered police protection.

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