Man Killed Trying to Settle Teens’ Dispute

A 24-year-old man, enlisted by his closest friend to help mediate a simmering dispute between two teenage boys, was shot to death at a Hollywood parking lot, and six suspects were booked on suspicion of his murder Monday, police and relatives said.

Artur Karapetyan was killed at a shopping center at Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue on Sunday night.

“I wish you could have known him,” said Karapetyan’s sister, Armine. “He was an extraordinary person. If only you could have known what a sweet boy he was. I’m brokenhearted. My brother has been murdered. This is the worst sadness any sister can ever have.”

Two other males, 23 and 17, were wounded after the mediation effort erupted into a fistfight and then a shooting, police said. They were listed in stable condition at a local hospital, authorities said. The incident was not gang-related, according to detectives.

“Two groups met in the parking lot to settle a previous dispute,” said Los Angeles Police Officer Mike Partain. One of the suspects drew a handgun and fired a number of shots at the other group, shooting three individuals, Partain said.

“He was just being a good guy, trying to settle an argument peacefully, and they killed him,” Armine Karapetyan said.

After the shooting, a car sped away, police said. LAPD undercover vice officers, who were in the area on an unrelated case heard the gunshots and followed a speeding Mercedes-Benz. The car was stopped at Forest Lawn Drive and the Ventura Freeway, Partain said.

Officers found a handgun believed to have been used in the crime when the car’s six occupants were taken into custody, Partain said.

Four juvenile suspects will be arraigned today at Eastlake Juvenile Court. The two adult suspects, whose names were not released, will be arraigned Wednesday.

Detectives have yet to determine who was the alleged gunman since the suspects are not cooperating with investigators, police said.

Anyone with information can call Dets. Vicki Bynum or John Miller at (213) 485-6410.

As several shots were fired in the parking lot, a night manager at a Thrifty drugstore saw several customers running back into the store.

“I saw the two guys who were wounded,” said the manager, who spoke on condition that he remain anonymous. “They were bleeding and ran to the steps out front. One of them was screaming, ‘Call my dad. Call my dad.’ Then another guy came in here yelling, ‘Give me some water. Call the police. My brother just got shot.’ ”

On Sunday afternoon, Karapetyan was attending a cousin’s 17th birthday party with his parents and sister in North Hollywood when he received several pages on his beeper, his sister said.

“His best friend wanted him to come help settle a dispute between his brother and another boy,” said Armine Karapetyan, 21. A week ago, two 17-year-olds were in a fistfight at a high school and Karapetyan was called in to mediate because he was older and knew how to talk to people with respect, his sister said.

“He was very hesitant to go,” she said. “But he kept getting paged and his friends came to pick him up from the party. He said he’d be back in a little while. But he never came back.”

The Karapetyan family became worried when their only son didn’t return to their North Hollywood home Sunday night. Early Monday, there was a knock on the door. It was Karapetyan’s uncle and aunt who live two blocks from the murder scene.

“They told us Artur was in an accident, and my mom started to get dressed because she wanted to go to the hospital,” Armine said. “But then my aunt, she just shook her head real slowly and said, ‘There’s no hospital to go to. There’s nowhere to go to. It’s too late.”’

Karapetyan’s mother, Lusik, 43, collapsed.

Karapetyan came to Los Angeles from Yerevan, Armenia, in 1990. He graduated from Hollywood High and worked as a printer at a small shop in North Hollywood. He had recently started his own custom printing company that he operated from his parent’s home, where he lived.