Camera footage leads Glendale police to suspect in fatal hit-and-run collision
Glendale police officials say they were able to piece together snippets of footage from security and traffic cameras to identify a 61-year-old woman suspected of causing a fatal collision with a pedestrian late last month.
Mira Gjura, a local resident, was arrested on Friday in connection with the death of 72-year-old Novar Ismailyan. She was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit and run.
Ismailyan was walking home from a nearby grocery store sometime around 7:20 p.m. on Dec. 21 when she was struck and killed by a passing car at the intersection of Glenoaks Boulevard and Linden Avenue.
Officers responding to the collision found her dead at the scene.
Sgt. Dan Suttles, a spokesman for the Glendale Police Department, said Ismailyan was almost on the other side of the street when she was struck.
While there were no witnesses to the collision, he said people in the area did see a woman get out of a black Toyota Prius seconds after it occurred near Glenoaks and Allen Avenue.
Surveillance video from a nearby camera shows the woman allegedly inspecting her vehicle for damage.
Suttles said the witnesses were unaware of the hit and run that happened a block away and even told officers they didn’t hear any tires screeching.
The same woman was then seen minutes later at a nearby liquor store on the corner of Allen and San Fernando Road.
Suttles said she was seen with a hood pulled over her head and was actively trying to avoid cameras in the store.
She purchased her items in cash, he added.
It’s believed that Gjura and the woman seen after the collision are one in the same.
A $50,000 reward was initially offered by the city for the identification, arrest and prosecution of a suspect but Suttles said detectives were able to identify Gjura based on additional camera footage from the surrounding area.
“They were able to put together strings of security video from businesses and traffic cameras … follow the car until it got into Burbank and were able to pick up a license plate,” he said.
When officers went to arrest Gjura, they found a black Toyota Prius at her home. The vehicle is currently being processed for evidence by forensic specialists, according to Suttles.
Gjura is currently out on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court for her arraignment on May 19.
Anyone with information on the collision can contact Glendale police at (818) 548-4911.
Twitter: @Andy_Truc
