STABBING DEATH RULED SELF-DEFENSE
By Jason Wells
Glendale News Press
May 21 2008
Two men previously arrested are freed after the D.A.’s office weighs
in on killing at Del Taco.
GLENDALE — Two men arrested on suspicion of murder Saturday in the
stabbing death of a 30-year-old Glendale man in a Del Taco parking
lot were released Tuesday after authorities decided one acted in
self-defense and that there was not enough evidence to charge the
second with a crime.
Avetis Barnasyan, 24, will not face murder charges for stabbing Hayk
Torosyan in the chest Saturday during a physical altercation in the
parking lot at 2101 W. Glenoaks Blvd., Los Angeles County district
attorney’s office spokeswoman Shiara M. Davila said.
The second man arrested, 40-year-old Brian Herbert of North Hollywood,
will not face charges for taking part in the physical altercation
after investigators determined "there was no evidence he had committed
a crime," she said.
Barnasyan and Herbert were scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday if the
district attorney’s office had decided to pursue murder charges.
Torosyan had reportedly been trying to track Barnasyan in the days
leading up to the stabbing in order to confront him over a woman they
both knew.
Torosyan and Herbert confronted Barnasyan in the Del Taco parking
lot at 2:15 a.m. and a fight ensued, police said.
Barnasyan broke free and retrieved a knife, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom
Lorenz said.
The two men caught up with him, and Barnasyan struck Torosyan in the
upper chest with the knife and fled the scene, returning later to
cooperate with Glendale Police, Lorenz said.
Torosyan was found bleeding in his car and was taken to Los Angeles
County-USC Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
Herbert stayed at the scene after the stabbing.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office on Tuesday determined
Torosyan’s official cause of death to be from a single stab wound to
his heart.
"It just so happened that it was a well-placed stab wound that
unfortunately took his life," Lorenz said.
Torosyan’s death is Glendale’s second homicide this year, Lorenz said.
That leaves 20-month-old Mikea Lim as the city’s only murder this year.
The baby was taken off life support in March after she was found to
be brain-dead from severe head injuries allegedly sustained at her
grandparents’ home in Glendale.
Her mother, Anna Regina Lim, has been charged with murder.