Latino Gang Killed Armenian Man, Police Say

Latino gang members shot and killed an Armenian man outside an east Hollywood restaurant Monday, police said, marking the third bloody clash between Armenian and Latino gang members this month.

Monday’s shooting follows the slaying earlier this month of a Glendale teenager caught in the middle of a gang fight while waiting for a bus, and a second incident in which Latino teenagers shot at a group of Armenian youths, injuring one.

LAPD Det. Bob Lopez emphasized, however, that the east Hollywood shooting “has nothing to do with any racially motivated incidents” in Glendale.

Lopez said the victim and attackers in the latest shooting belong to gangs, but are not connected to those allegedly responsible for the Glendale violence.

About 5:15 p.m. Monday, Armen Petrosyan was sitting on a bench outside Souren’s Deli at the southwest corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Kenmore Avenue when three men approached on foot, asking “where you from,” police said. One man then shot Petrosyan repeatedly with a handgun, police said.

The three ran to a car and drove to a nearby neighborhood. Two were arrested near the parked car, police said. The third remains at large. The alleged gunman, an unidentified 16-year-old, was booked on suspicion of murder, police said.

Petrosyan died at a local hospital about 6 p.m., police said.

The earlier clashes between Armenians and Latinos have prompted a series of community meetings and calls for unity in Glendale.

The first incident occurred on May 5 outside Hoover High School. Raul Aguirre, 17, was beaten with a tire iron and stabbed in the heart when he tried to stop a fight between two Armenian boys and a Latino teenager who had all flashed gang signs. Aguirre was not in a gang, police said.

A week later, a group of Latinos in a car fired at least five shots at a group of Armenian American men in front of a doughnut shop, Glendale police said. Aram Goulian, 18, was hit in the leg but had only minor injuries.

*

* GLENDALE SLAYING

Arraignment for three juveniles accused of killing a student in Glendale was postponed. B7