A federal grand jury has indicted two males for allegedly assaulting and threatening 5 folks at a Turkish restaurant in Beverly Hills whereas shouting anti-Turkish slurs.
Harutyun Harry Chalikyan, 23, of Tujunga, and William Stepanyan, 23, of Glendale, had been named in an indictment unsealed Tuesday that charged them with one rely of conspiracy and 5 counts of committing hate crimes.
Each defendants, prosecutors mentioned, are Armenian American. The assault final fall got here a couple of weeks after tens of 1000’s of individuals protested exterior the Turkish consulate in Beverly Hills in solidarity with Armenia following clashes that broke out with neighboring Azerbaijan over the separatist area of Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey had expressed assist for Azerbaijan.
Chalikyan was arrested Tuesday and pleaded not responsible at an arraignment, in accordance with the U.S. legal professional’s workplace for the Central District of California. His legal professional didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Stepanyan is in state custody and anticipated to look in federal courtroom in June. It was unclear who’s representing him.
The indictment alleges that on Nov. 4, Stepanyan despatched a textual content message saying that he deliberate to go “attempting to find [T]urks” that evening. Shortly after, he and Chalikyan attended a rally with different Armenian Individuals in Glendale associated to the abroad battle.
Following the rally, the indictment mentioned that about 9 folks, together with Stepanyan and Chalikyan, drove to Café Istanbul in Beverly Hills. The restaurant isn’t named within the indictment however it’s been recognized by the Beverly Hills Police Division, which helped examine the incident.
The defendants entered the restaurant and attacked 5 folks, together with the operator of the restaurant and staff, in accordance with the indictment, which mentioned 4 of the victims had been Turkish. The Beverly Hills Police Division has reported that six to eight folks folks carried out the assault.
Stepanyan, the indictment alleged, kicked over a plexiglass barrier and tables, and rushed towards three folks close to the again of the restaurant. The indictment mentioned one or each defendants shouted, “We got here to kill you! We are going to kill you!”
The defendants threw at the very least one chair towards the victims, smashed glassware, ripped out laptop terminals and stole an iPhone earlier than fleeing the restaurant, the indictment mentioned.
The indictment mentioned two of the victims had been injured as they tried to flee and that one other suffered accidents whereas ducking from a chair that was thrown. It holds the defendants prompted at the very least $20,000 in injury to the restaurant.
Following the assault, the house owners’ son instructed The Instances that nameless callers to the restaurant had been making loss of life threats in opposition to the house owners and vowed to “burn down your restaurant when you’re consuming breakfast with your loved ones.” Indicators mounted to the enterprise’ home windows after the incident learn, “Armenians attacked this enterprise.”
If convicted of all fees, Stepanyan and Chalikyan every face a most sentence of 15 years in jail, prosecutors mentioned.
Instances workers author Matt Ormseth contributed to this report.
