LOS ANGELES — A 32-year-old Los Angeles man was convicted today of killing four people at a Valley Village eatery during a memorial gathering in 2010, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.
A jury of nine men and three women found Nerses Arthur Galstyan guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of multiple murders to be true.
Prosecutors are seeking death when the same jury returns on March 28 to begin the penalty phase of the trial.
Galstyan was convicted of sending a volley of 50 rounds into a Mediterranean restaurant on Riverside Drive on April 3, 2010, that killed Hayk Yegnanyan, 25; Vardan Tofalyan, 31; Sarkis Karadjian, 26: and Harut Baburyan, 28.
In addition to two counts of first-degree murder, Galstyan was found guilty of one count of second-degree murder, one count of voluntary manslaughter, two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter and one count of mayhem. Jurors also found that Galstyan personally used a handgun.
Deputy District Attorneys Jonathan Chung and Thomas Trainor are prosecuting the case.
Galstyan was attending a memorial celebration for a friend who died in a traffic accident when he got into a dispute with several acquaintances inside the restaurant, prosecutors said. Galstyan left the restaurant, got the gun from his car, walked back into the restaurant and opened fire.
