Glendale Student, 15, Hurt in Shooting, Dies

A 15-year-old Herbert Hoover High School student shot last week died over the weekend of multiple organ failure at County-USC Medical Center, police said.

Avetis “Avo” Demirchyan, who had been shot once in the lower abdomen, died Saturday after undergoing surgery and three blood transfusions, said Sgt. Rick Young of the Glendale Police Department.

Police continued their search for the 17-year-old believed to have shot Demirchyan. Two alleged accomplices are already in custody; a 15-year-old, who was being held at Eastlake juvenile hall and Babken Santrosyan, 18, who was being held at the Glendale Police Department.

Both also attended Hoover High, Young said.

Police said the shooting last Thursday resulted from a lunchtime argument at the Hoover High campus in Glendale.

The victim and a 14-year-old student exchanged words. The 14-year-old “felt he was insulted in front of his peers and asked for an apology, which the 15-year-old refused to give.

“Knowing they didn’t want to get in a fight at school because they would get in trouble, they said they would deal with it after school,” Young said.

Young said the boys gathered in the faculty parking lot near School Street, 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 hand gun and fired,” Young said. “It was our belief that he went into a car to get the gun.”

After the shooting, the victim’s friends put him in the back of their car and headed toward a hospital. They were flagged down for speeding by a Glendale motor officer along the way.

Police said they do not believe the shooting was gang-related. Glendale Unified School District administrators said the shooting was the first such incident outside a Glendale school.

“This was an isolated incident that escalated rapidly and tragically,” Young said. “Instead of communicating and working out their differences, two young people blew this thing. It shows we have so much work to do with these kids.”

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Times staff writer Abigail Goldman contributed to this story.