A man who fired 50 rounds at a memorial gathering at a Valley Village restaurant, killing four people and wounding two others, was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder and other counts and faces a possible death sentence.
Jurors deliberated for about 3 1/2 days before convicting Nerses Galstyan, 32, of two counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of Vardan Tofalyan, 31, and Harut Baburyan, 28, along with one count of second- degree murder for the killing of Hayk Yegnanyan, 25, and one count of voluntary manslaughter in the death of Sarkis Karadjian, 26.
The nine-man, three-woman jury found true the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, along with gun allegations, and also found Galstyan guilty of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter and one count of mayhem.
The jurors will return to court March 28 for the start of the trial’s penalty phase, in which they will be asked to recommend whether Galstyan should be sentenced to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Deputy District Attorney Thomas Trainor said Galstyan carried out the April 3, 2010, ambush “on an unsuspecting group of friends mourning the loss of a loved one.”
It was undisputed during the trial that Galstyan shot and killed Yegnanyan, Karadjian, Baburyan and Tofalyan, who was described as the defendant’s best friend, at the Hot Spot restaurant.
Defense attorney Alex Kessel argued, however, that the shooting was carried out in self-defense. He told jurors that Yegnanyan pulled a knife on Galstyan’s brother, Sam, outside the restaurant prior to the shooting.
Kessel said his client tried to defuse the situation by picking up Yegnanyan, hoisting him over his shoulder and turning in circles before putting him down. Yegnanyan then called Karadjian and Baburyan, who came armed to the memorial gathering, according to Kessel.
“My client, Nerses Galstyan, was the one targeted that day,” Kessel said, telling the jury that Galstyan only fired when Karadjian pulled a gun on him.
Galstyan and his brother testified that Yegnanyan had been pressing Sam Galstyan to run drugs through his motorcycle club, leading to escalating tension between the three men.
But Trainor insisted that Galstyan “walked in ready to fire, bullet already in the chamber, no safety on.” The prosecutor said Galstyan “began firing as he walked in … round after round after round after round .. pausing to reload … stopping only when he ran out of bullets.”
Karadjian was “never able to chamber a round,” according to the prosecutor.
After the shooting, the Galstyan brothers fled to a Seattle, Washington suburb, where they were later arrested, because they were “two scared guys looking for “safety, not for sanctuary,” Kessel said.
Sam Galstyan was not charged in connection with the shooting.
— Wire reports