LOS ANGELES — A man suspected of opening fire after a fatal dispute broke out at a birthday memorial in a North Hollywood restaurant has been charged with four counts of murder and one count of mayhem, authorities said today.
Nerses Galstyan, 26, was being held in Seattle in lieu of $4 million bail. Federal agents arrested Galstyan and his brother there two days earlier.
Officials said video surveillance confirmed Galstyan was at the Hot Spot Cafe on April 3 and left after the shooting that killed four men and injured two others.
His brother, Samuel Galstyan, 24, was also in the restaurant but is not believed to have fired any shots, robbery-homicide Capt. Kevin McClure said.
Authorities released the younger brother, but McClure said detectives were looking at any role he might have had in the attack or in helping Nerses Galstyan get to Washington state.
“We do think he was substantially involved,” McClure said.
The brothers were attending a memorial for an acquaintance who had died in a traffic accident a year earlier when Nerses Galstyan got into a dispute with several men.
In anger, he fired off multiple rounds from a handgun, officials said. Police have said the Galstyan brothers are Armenian, as were most of the victims.
The four men who died were Harut Baburyan, 28; Sarkis Karadjian, 26; Vardan Tofalyan, 31; and Hayk Yegnanyan, 25.
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office will not decide whether to seek the death penalty until the case moves closer to trial.
Separately, a federal grand jury has indicted Nerses Galstyan on suspicion of dealing firearms without a license and possessing a weapon with an obliterated serial number.
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