Man on Shooting Spree in North Hollywood, Arrested

Los Angeles: On Tuesday, May 20, 2008, police arrested Avetis Vartanyan, 24, the man responsible for going on a shooting spree in North Hollywood that left two people dead. 

Just before 7 p.m., police received reports of a shooting in the 12000 block of Oxnard Street.  When they arrived, they found the body of Artak Karamyan, 28, who suffered a fatal gunshot wound to his chest.  Moments later, another patrol unit was dispatched to a second related shooting call near Vanowen Street and Coldwater Canyon Boulevard where they discovered another victim identified as Paylak Harutyunyan, 29, fatally shot. 

After the shooting, Vartanyan was seen fleeing from the scene.  Officers and a police dog searched the area and later took him into custody.

A dispute that involved both victims and a group of men was believed to be the motive for the shooting, a detective said.

Police searched the area for the murder weapon and recovered a pistol that Vartanyan had hidden in the yard of a home.  A second handgun was also found inside a vehicle abandoned at the crime scene.

Vartanyan was charged with murder.  His bail was set at $1,000,000.

On May 21, 2008, investigators served search warrants at three different locations throughout the San Fernando Valley. They confiscated three SKS assault rifles, two shotguns, one bolt-action rifle, three handguns, one bulletproof vest, and a large quantity of ammunition. The investigation is continuing and additional leads are being followed in an effort to identify and locate outstanding suspects involved in these two murders.

Anyone with additional information regarding this shooting is urged to call North Hollywood Area Homicide Detectives Martin Pinner or Jose Calzadillas at 818-623-4075. During off-hours, or on weekends, calls may be directed to the 24-hour toll free number at 1-877-LAWFULL (529-3855).

Comments

[nhd]

Good job to all of the officers and detectives involved. You guys work your butts off and you should know that it's greatly appreciated. Thank you for all of your hard work and hard long days.

[Nicole]

A very special thank you to LAPD. I truly appreciate all your hard work and dedication that you do every moment while being an officer. These crimes need to stop because it is getting out of hand. I hope this man gets sentenced to life for taking the lives of two people.

[sabrina]

yes its sad what happen on may 21 but i also think its very wrong of the lapd to give out the possible susspects name without being sure it was avetis vartanyan for sure because that also puts that members families in danger but ofcoures it doesnt matter to the police what happens to others better for them more crimes more money for everyone its just sad to see what this world has become and next time be sure who ever it is if your gonna expose a persons name to the world make sure its the right person

[nhd]

Sabrina, the MURDERER should have considered his family's feelings and safety before he shot those people. It astounds me just how ignorant some people really are.

[CODE ONE]

Sabrina,

Learn to write a proper paragraph and proof read your comments before posting them please.

Your comments made no sense what so ever. FYI, Vartanyan's arrest is public knowledge. Therefore, it's not irresponsible on the LAPD's part to provide the public with his name.

[OG]

HOW DISGRACEFUL ANOTHER ARMENIANS KILLING ANOTHER ARMENIAN LIFE YOU FOOLS SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOUR SELVES. SHAME ON YOU FOOLS BRINGING DOWN THE ARMENIAN NAME FOR YOUNG IGNORANT FOOLS LIKE YOU ANIMALS YOU SHOULD READ A BIBLE PRAY TO GOD ITS SAD TO SEE HOW STUPID YOU HAVE TO BE TO TALK YOUR OWN LIFE YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED I FEEL SORRY FOR YOUR FAMILY FOR HAVING A COWARDS FOR A SON ITS A SHAME GOD GIVE YOU BRAINS AND GOD GIVE YOUR BRAINS.
OG

[nicole]

right now i can care less how my spelling is if a person is understanding they will get me no matter what or how things are spelled and about the whole situation i totally understand you, dont get me wrong im thankful for the LAPD, but this case i know what im talking about and as of today 10 days later they still dont have evedance or a case on Avetis Vartanyan so you tell me which is the right thing to say oh and you might know this is it the public knoledge to know this persons address also...

[smart 1]

nicole not only is your writing atrocious (big word) but difficult to follow because you don't use periods or any other punctuation and forget about the spelling but i digress it is so typical of someone who only has part of the story or only knows someone casually to disbelieve the person could commit a crime and what makes you think you know there is no evidence...wow

[nan]

Here's a thought, instead of ARMENIAN'S being ashamed of killing OTHER Armenian's...how about the thought of how some people can be so ignorant and proud to take another persons life away.
Code One, things like this happens all the time to all people, it's sad that your main concern is the fact that the killer and the victims were Armenian. I hate to break it to you, but even Armenian's are not perfect.
And those of you concerned about grammar, let's focus on the more important issues surrounding this story.
To Nicole, it is the responsibilty to the LAPD to disclose the killer and victims names (unless they are minors). Maybe the family should pay more attention to their other families and teach them right from wrong to avoid possible danger to themselves.
My heart and prayers go out to the victims family and friends, as well as to the killer's.

[Sarkis Karapetyan]

What's it matter that he killed other Armenians, the fact of the matter is that he is a disgrace to HUMANITY.

Good job to the LAPD for catching this thug and he is off the street. I hope he is the guy, and I have a feeling that they would not have released his name if they had doubt that it wasn't him.