Los Angeles man charged with murder of Burbank taxi driver
Prosecutors charged a 32-year-old man on Tuesday with the murder of a Burbank taxi driver who was stabbed to death Friday evening in downtown Los Angeles.
Daniel Victor Torres was charged with one count each of murder, attempted first-degree robbery on a transit operator and carjacking, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
The Los Angeles resident is accused of killing 68-year-old Oganes Papazyan in a parking lot near a Burger King off of West Cesar Chavez and North Grand avenues.
Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said the charges also carry a special-circumstance allegation that the murder occurred during the commission of a carjacking and involved the use of a deadly and dangerous weapon.
On the night of Nov. 15, Papazyan reportedly picked up Torres from Union Station. Torres then directed Papazyan to drive to the parking lot, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Once at the lot, Torres allegedly stabbed Papazyan and tried to steal the taxi.
Unable to locate the key fob necessary to operate the vehicle, Torres ran away from the lot and left Papazyan to die, police said.
Torres was spotted a few days later by officers in the 500 block of North Main Street, near where the murder occurred, and he was arrested.
