SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 30, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A Third District Court jury has convicted Levon Garo Meguerditchian for the murder of 18-year-old Abdourazak Mouhoumed and the kidnapping of several partygoers at his Sugar House residence.
On Aug. 28, 2021, Meguerditchian hosted a party for a younger relative at his home. At around 3 a.m., some people at the party stole a bottle of alcohol and ran out of the house, a statement from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office says.
“Mr. Mouhoumed ran out of the house at the same time and left in his car. As Mr. Mouhoumed drove away, Mr. Meguerditchian shot at him, and the bullet hit him in the head, causing him to crash his car.
“People at the party were then forced into the home’s laundry room and threatened with violence as police responded to the 911 call to look for evidence of the shooting.”
Police did not initially find anything, and most of the hostages were let go 20 minutes later, the statement says. At about 6:30 a.m., “someone called the police and told them they believed their friend was being held captive at Mr. Meguerditchian’s house. When police responded they found a juvenile female in Mr. Meguerditchian’s garage with multiple injuries to her face. Mr. Meguerditchian believed she invited the people to the party who stole the bottle of liquor.”
On Friday of last week, the jury convicted Meguerditchian, now 40, of first-degree felony murder, multiple counts of aggravated kidnapping, second-degree felony obstructing justice, and third-degree felony discharge of a firearm. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 10, 2024.
Salt Lake County DA Sim Gill said “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.
“We would like to thank our prosecutors on this case, John Ham and Brett Robinson, our victim advocate David Torres, and our support staff for their dedication to this devastating case.”
