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SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of shooting and killing a teenager and then holding up to 10 others hostage — all over a stolen bottle of alcohol, according to police — now faces numerous felony charges.
Levon Garo Meguerditchian, 38, of Salt Lake City, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with murder and five counts of aggravated kidnapping, both first-degree felonies; obstructing justice, a second-degree felony; discharge of a firearm and four counts of possession of a gun by a restricted person, third-degree felonies.
The violent string of events happened on Aug. 28 at Meguerditchian's residence, 609 E. Wilmington Ave., where Meguerditchian was hosting a party, according to police.
A group of people who had attended the party allegedly took a bottle of alcohol and left. As they were driving away, Meguerditchian fired several rounds at the vehicle, hitting and killing 18-year-old Abdourazak Mouhoumed who was driving the car, which then crashed into a nearby house after he was shot.
Police were originally called just before 4 a.m. on a report of shots being fired in the area. But when officers arrived at the scene, they could not find a victim or any shell casings. Meguerditchian met with police outside his house and told them it was fireworks that were heard, according to charging documents.
Investigators would later learn that after the shooting, Meguerditchian had people pick up the shell casings, and then both Meguerditchian and his girlfriend Mary Akopyan "forced everyone inside the house to the laundry room," held them at gunpoint and threatened to "slit their throats," the charges state.
The couple kept approximately 10 people in their house for 20 to 30 minutes while police investigated the shots fired called, according to the charges.
A girl who Meguerditchian believed had invited the others to the party and who stole the bottle of alcohol was taken to an upstairs area and assaulted by both Meguerditchian and Akopyan, the charges state. Akopyan was "ordered" by Meguerditchian to assault the girl, who was injured badly enough that she bled on the carpet, according to the charges.
Everyone else was eventually allowed to leave the house except that girl. When her friends returned about 6 a.m. to try and get her, Meguerditchian confronted them with a gun in his waistband and punched one of the friends in the face, the charges state.
Just after 6:30 a.m., police were called back to the home on Wilmington on a report that a 17-year-old girl was being held hostage, the charges state.
"As officers were arriving at the 609 E. Wilmington location, officers overheard a female screaming and located a vehicle that had crashed into a house at 2214 South and 600 East," according to the charges.
Mouhoumed was found dead in the car.
As officers were investigating that scene, a neighbor approached police and said he believed someone was inside his garage. Officers looked in the garage and found Akopyan and the teen girl with "multiple injuries to her face," according to the charges.
Police searched Meguerditchian's home and a relative's home and reported seizing guns, drug paraphernalia and "a large stack of cash."
Detectives also discovered that Meguerditchian allegedly had people cut carpet out of his floor where the girl bled and throw it away. Police found a towel with blood on it near the areas where the carpet and padding had been cut out, the charges say.
Akopyan, 35, of Salt Lake City, was also charged Tuesday with five counts of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony: obstructing justice, a second-degree felony; and assault, a class B misdemeanor.
Prosecutors have requested the couple be held in jail without bail, pending trial.
