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SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man was convicted of murder on Friday, after a jury determined he shot and killed an 18-year-old who was running from a party at his home.
He was also convicted of aggravated kidnapping for restraining other partygoers in his home after firing the shots. He and his girlfriend held about 10 people in their home for 20 to 30 minutes and threatened to "slit their throats," according to charging documents.
On Aug. 28, 2021, Levon Garo Meguerditchian, 40, was holding a party at his home near 609 E. Wilmington Ave. At about 3 a.m. some attendees stole a bottle of alcohol and ran from the home, according to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.
Abdourazak Mouhoumed, 18, ran out of the house at the same time and was driving away in his car when he was shot in the head by Meguerditchian, causing the car to crash, according to prosecutors.
People at the party were forced into the home's laundry room for about 20 minutes while police responded to reports of a shooting. Meguerditchian told police it was fireworks that were heard, and he had others pick up the casings from the bullets before police arrived, charges state.
Although most of the partygoers were released, around 6:30 a.m. police heard reports that someone was being held captive and they found a 17-year-old girl in Meguerditchian's garage with injuries. According to investigators, Meguerditchian believed she had invited the people who stole the alcohol to his party.
During that second response, charges said officers also located a vehicle that had crashed into a home at 2214 South and 600 East, and found Mouhoumed dead in the car.
Meguerditchian was found guilty of murder and five counts of aggravated kidnapping, first-degree felonies; obstructing justice, a second-degree felony; and felony discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony.
"The jury sent a strong message to Mr. Meguerditchian when they handed down this conviction. The amount of violence that we saw over a bottle of liquor was astounding. Sugar House is a safer community with Mr. Meguerditchian behind bars," Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement.
The jury trial lasted four days, and the jury deliberated for about two hours on Friday evening.
Four counts of possession or use of a firearm as a restricted person, a third-degree felony, were dismissed before or during the trial.
Meguerditchian is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 10, 2024.
Meguerditchian's girlfriend is charged with five counts of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony; obstructing justice, a second-degree felony; and assault, a class B misdemeanor. A warrant is still out for her arrest.
Meguerditchian is also charged with use or possession of a firearm as a restricted person, a third-degree felony, and possession or use of a controlled substance, a class A misdemeanor in a separate case after police responded to shots in the area in a separate incident.
In that case, police responded to a home on March 15, 2020, and saw evidence that shots had been fired from the front porch. Meguerditchian was yelling that his brother had been shot, and was aggressive toward police, charges state.
Witnesses told police a man had broken into Meguerditchian's car, and he and his brother went out to fight the man, who left and came back with friends and began shooting at the home. Meguerditchian told police he was shooting in the direction of the people who were shooting at his home, according to charging documents.
The documents do not report that anyone was injured on this occasion.
The next hearing in that case will be scheduled at Meguerditchian's sentencing in the other case. The case was dismissed in October 2021 after prosecutors were not ready to move forward with it, but it was later refiled.
