A Salt Lake City man who allegedly shot and killed a teenager in a dispute over a stolen liquor bottle has been charged with a dozen crimes, including murder.
In addition to that first-degree felony, Levon Garo Meguerditchian, 38, was charged in 3rd District Court with five counts of aggravated kidnapping, also first-degree felonies; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; discharge of a firearm and four counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person, third-degree felonies.
According to the charges, on Aug. 28 Meguerditchian shot and killed 18-year-old Abdourazak Mouhoumed as he drove away from a party at Meguerditchian’s home, allegedly with a stolen bottle of liquor in his car.
The shooting was first reported just before 4 a.m., but when officers arrived they were unable to find any shell casings or anyone who had been shot. At about 6:30 a.m., a caller reported that his 17-year-old friend was being held hostage at 609 E. Wilmington Ave. by someone with a gun.
When officers returned, they heard a woman screaming and found that a car had crashed into a home at 2214 S. 600 East, and that Mouhoumed was dead. He had been shot in the head.
According to the charges, a neighbor said she heard an “altercation” at about 3:30- 3:45 a.m., two gunshots and a car crashing. She went on to say that a man, later identified as Meguerditchian, made everyone go back into his house at 609 E. Wilmington Ave. After driving off and returning a short time later, Meguerditchian “asked for flashlights and for people to help him look for shell casings,” she told police.
A witness who was at the party told police a group of females stole a bottle of alcohol and ran out of the house. Mouhoumed ran out after them, got in his car and began to drive away. Several witnesses said Meguerditchian shot at Mouhoumed’s car.
The witness told police that Meguerditchian and his girlfriend, Mary Akopyan, forced him and about nine other people back inside the house and held them in a laundry room while police responded to the original shots-fired call. Meguerditchian and Akopyan threatened to slit the throats of the hostages, holding them for 20-30 minutes.
Witnesses said Meguerditchian and Akopyan beat and threatened to kill a 17-year-old girl they believed had invited Mouhoumed to the party, and would not let her leave the house. The witness said he and his friends went back about 6 a.m. to get the 17-year-old girl, and Meguerditchian came outside with a gun in his waistband and punched one of them in the face.
Another witness said she and others were locked inside the house after the shooting and told they could not leave, according to the charges. And another witness said Meguerditchian was “waving a gun around” as he forced people inside a closet.
When police questioned Meguerditchian, he said he owned guns, which he stored at his brother’s house nearby. According to the charges, when officers searched the brother’s home, they found an AR-15 rifle, handguns, ammunition, marijuana, scales, pill bottles, drug paraphernalia and “a large stack of cash.”
Meguerditchian was booked into the Salt Lake County jail, where he is being held without bail.
Akopyan was charged in 3rd District Court with five counts of aggravated kidnapping, first-degree felonies; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and assault, a Class B misdemeanor. She was also ordered to be held without bail.
