Burbank police detail attempted stop of shooting suspect later connected to ‘road rage’ killing
Burbank police identified Artyom Gasparyan as a possible suspect just days after a double shooting in a Burbank neighborhood, and even tracked him down in Long Beach on Dec. 13, but he fled when police tried to stop him.
After the shooting, Burbank detectives used surveillance video to narrow down the make and model of the suspect’s vehicle, which led them to a Volkswagen Jetta associated with someone who resembled the shooter.
That turned out to be Gasparyan.
Burbank police found him and his car on the afternoon of Dec. 13 in Long Beach, but he fled when they attempted to stop him.
“He got away,” said Burbank Police Sgt. Claudio Losacco, adding that, at that point, investigators didn’t have enough evidence to arrest him. Further details on the stop attempt were not available.
Hours later, Gasparyan would reportedly go on to shoot another victim in Los Angeles.
In the weeks that followed, Gasparyan’s violent crime spree, which started with a shooting on Dec. 6, continued.
He’s suspected of killing a 37-year-old Winnetka man last week in Panorama City in what was described by Los Angeles police as a possible “road rage” shooting.
The victim, identified by coroner’s officials as Adan Corea-Santillana, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead shortly after at a Mission Hills hospital.
Police believe that in some of the crimes — including an armed gas station robbery in Burbank two hours after the fatal shooting — Gasparyan had an accomplice.
The man, Daniel Ramirez, died on Saturday, a day after he carjacked a Dodge Durango and led police on a pursuit before crashing the car in Long Beach. He subsequently ran into a nearby home, stabbed a man and shot the man’s two sons before turning the gun on himself.
Just before the carjacking on Friday, police believe Ramirez had been in another car with Gasparyan. Authorities lost Gasparyan after he got on a freeway offramp, driving in the wrong direction.
The nonstop search for Gasparyan came to a dramatic end Monday afternoon when Los Angeles police shot him in front of commuters on the Golden State (5) Freeway after a short foot pursuit.
Undercover detectives had spotted him at a car repair shop and followed him until he entered the freeway on an offramp, which police believe he did because he suspected he was being followed.
Gasparyan subsequently collided with two oncoming vehicles before he got out of his car, armed with a handgun. After a short foot pursuit, police shot Gasparyan, leaving him hospitalized with critical injuries.
Burbank police are still investigating a motive in the Dec. 9 double shooting. According to Losacco, there’s no known relationship between Gasparyan and the victims.
The 67-year-old victim, who was shot multiple times in his abdomen outside his home, remains hospitalized in critical condition, while the second victim, a 33-year-old gardener, is recovering at home.
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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Twitter: @atchek
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