Slaying Suspect’s Body Discovered

Police on Friday found the body of a Sherman Oaks auto mechanic who authorities believe fatally shot his estranged wife and 13-year-old daughter and critically wounded two older daughters before jumping or falling from a bridge into the Los Angeles River.

Police suspect that Gabriel “Gaby” Ghazelian, 49, fatally shot his wife, Zabel, 42, and daughter Garine in the family’s minivan Thursday night near Griffith Park.

Friends said Ghazelian was distraught over the dissolution of his marriage and missed his children. The couple had been separated for a year, police said, and a divorce was pending.

Police found the father’s body in the riverbed shortly after 2 p.m. Friday below the interchange of the Ventura and Golden State freeways.

On Thursday night, Ghazelian, a part-time wedding photographer, visited the Burbank apartment of his wife and three daughters, said Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Mark Kelley. Ghazelian told his family that his car had broken down on Riverside Drive near the Ventura Freeway, Kelly said.

His wife agreed to drive him to his vehicle and they took their daughters along, Kelly said.

As Zabel Ghazelian drove south on Riverside Drive toward Zoo Drive, her husband pulled out a handgun he had hidden in his waistband and began shooting, Kelly said. Gary Mosher, 46, of Burbank saw the family’s minivan stopped ahead of him about 8:15 p.m. He found Zabel’s body in the driver’s seat and Garine’s in back.

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The eldest sister, Christine--who turned 16 on Friday--was shot in the mouth.

Another daughter, Talar, 14, was bleeding from her head. Police originally believed she also had been shot. But hospital authorities said Friday she had been struck by a blunt object, possibly the butt of a handgun. Mosher said Christine was trying to help Talar and call for help when he arrived.

“Christine was sitting on the curb, trying to dial her cell phone, but you couldn’t understand what she was saying, because she’d been shot in the mouth,” Mosher said Friday. “The 14-year-old wanted to get up, but you could see in her eyes there was something not quite right. I had my arm around Christine, who was trying to calm the other one down.

“There was just blood everywhere,” he said. “I just can’t imagine what it could have been like for those three girls to be sitting in the car and watch this happen.”

Talar and Christine were taken to County-USC Medical Center. Both were in critical condition in the intensive care unit Friday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Mosher said he didn’t see Gabriel Ghazelian at the scene.

For the last three years, Zabel Ghazelian had taught Armenian language classes at the Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School in Hollywood, where her three daughters were enrolled.

Principal Viken Yacoubian described Zabel as an enthusiastic teacher with a great sense of humor. He said her girls, who were in the eighth, ninth and 11th grades, “were, like their mother, very charismatic and enthusiastic, and good students.”

Yacoubian said administrators broke the news to students and faculty Friday--the last day of school before Christmas break.

Landlord and family friend Joe Nishanian said police searched Ghazelian’s apartment Friday morning and found a note addressed to him, thanking him for his friendship.

Nishanian said Ghazelian was a religious man who was upset about his pending divorce. “He [was] a very nice guy, a feminine-type of guy--very affectionate,” Nishanian said. “But he was fed up with life.”

Nishanian said Ghazelian had told him this week he was moving out of his apartment. On Thursday morning, a workman at the apartment building told Nishanian that Ghazelian, dressed in a suit, left his apartment with a suitcase. Nishanian said he called Ghazelian on his cell phone.

Ghazelian said he was headed for Las Vegas.

“I said, ‘Why are you going to Vegas?’ ” Nishanian recalled. “He said, ‘My wife doesn’t want me. My kids don’t want me. I’m going to Vegas with my girlfriend.’ But he didn’t have a girlfriend.”

According to Nishanian, the family was Armenian, with roots in Lebanon and Syria. They had moved to California from Canada in 1987, he said. After the Northridge earthquake they moved back to Canada. Nishanian said Ghazelian returned to Los Angeles after suffering health and job problems.

The family continued to have financial troubles. Nishanian said he made several large loans to his friend, and he believes financial pressures hurt the marriage.

“There were misunderstandings,” he said. “Most of it was [over] money. . . . She would say [to him], ‘Look, this guy owns a business, that guy owns a business. What about you?’ ”

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On Friday, students at Pilibos Armenian School spoke fondly of Zabel Ghazelian and her daughters. “She was my favorite teacher,” said David Menedjyan, 17, a senior. “She was always willing to listen to our problems. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it.”

At school functions and celebrations, Zabel Ghazelian would get the party going.

“She would be the one to galvanize everyone to have fun, to sing, to dance,” Yacoubian said. “She was so full of life.”

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Times staff writer Elise Gee contributed to this story.