Glendale Student, 15, Shot During Parking Lot Fight Dies of Wounds
A 15-year-old student at Glendale’s Herbert Hoover High School shot last week during a fight in the faculty parking lot has died of multiple organ failure at County-USC Medical Center, police said.
Avetis “Avo” Demirchyan, who had been shot once in the lower abdomen, succumbed Saturday after while undergoing surgery and three blood transfusions, said Sgt. Rick Young of the Glendale Police Department.
Police continued their search for a 17-year-old who is believed to have shot Demirchyan. Two alleged accomplices, both Hoover students, are already in custody; a 15-year-old who is being held at Eastlake Juvenile Hall, and Babken Santrosyan, 18, held at the Glendale Police Department.
Police said the shooting last Thursday resulted from a lunchtime argument on the campus between the victim and a 14-year-old student. After school, the boys gathered in the faculty parking lot, each backed up by family and friends, including the alleged gunman.
“The discussion escalated into fist fighting, and one of the individuals pulled out a handgun and fired,” Young said.
Police said they do not believe the shooting was gang-related. Glendale Unified School District administrators said the shooting was the first on the premises of a Glendale school.
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