BUSINESS QUARREL LEAVES 2 GLENDALE COUSINS DEAD.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Staff Writer

A dispute over a recycling business is believed to have sparked a night of family bloodshed that left two cousins dead, an uncle wounded and a brother in jail accused of murder, police said.

Tigran Petrosyan, 30, was being held Monday at Glendale City Jail on suspicion of fatally shooting Rafael Aibouchev, 36, on Sunday night, said Glendale police Sgt. Rick Young. Bail is $1 million.

Also killed was Petrosyan's brother, Gevork, 37.

The fatal shootings are the first in Glendale this year and jolted the ordinarily quiet Adams Hill neighborhood.

Police said Aibouchev, who is Gevork Petrosyan's cousin, drove over to the latter's home in the 1200 block of Green Street shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday, and an argument ensued.

Seated in his silver Pontiac, Aibouchev pulled out a gun and shot Gevork Petrosyan in the arm and body, Young said.

As Gevork Petrosyan fell into the street and died, his brother Tigran Petrosyan wrenched the gun from Aibouchev's hands and used it to fire two bullets into Aibouchev's body, Young said.

The wounded Aibouchev drove around the corner onto Tyler Street. As he slumped over the steering wheel, the car jumped the curb, then rammed into three parked cars just north of Palmer Avenue, police and witnesses said.

During the gunfire, the Petrosyans' 67-year-old uncle, Rafik Petrosyan, was shot in the thigh, Young said. He is being held on suspicion of murder as well at Los Angeles County Jail, pending further investigation, he said. Young did not elaborate on the basis for the charge.

On Monday, friends and family stopped by the Green Street house. Gevork Petrosyan's wife, Karine Elmajian, momentarily stepped outside where she faced a throng of reporters and television cameras. Crying, she pointed to a large dark stain on the street, saying it was her husband's blood.

An unidentified woman who said she was a friend of the family said Elmajian was devastated. The woman described Gevork Petrosyan as a ``very good father, husband, relative and friend.''

``He's a social person. He was a kind and giving man,'' she said.

Throughout the neighborhood, children's toys dot small yards along the shady street. Colored chalk drawings of rainbows and children's names were scribbled on the sidewalk at Tyler and Green streets - just west of a pile of yellow crime scene tape.

Residents Salpi and Anouchavan Artinian have lived on Green Street for 20 years and said they've never seen or heard of any serious crimes in the neighborhood. The couple, who live two houses away from Gevork Petrosyan and Karine Elmajian, returned home Sunday night to find Gevork Petrosyan's body lying in the street and covered by a tarp.

``It's a nightmare. I didn't sleep all night,'' said Salpi Artinian, who believes Gevork Petrosyan, his wife and their two young sons have lived on Green Street almost two years.

Tyler Street resident Anthony Navarro was inside his home Sunday night when he heard a scraping sound.

The Los Angeles city firefighter, on leave because of a torn ligament in his knee, saw a man slumped over the steering wheel of a silver Pontiac and watched the vehicle roll down the sidewalk. Navarro called 911 and approached the driver, who still was breathing.

Using his medical training, Navarro removed the man's shirt and noticed the two bullet wounds. Navarro pressed on the wounds until the Glendale Fire Department arrived. Just then Aibouchev lost consciousness and paramedics performed CPR, Navarro said.

Aibouchev was taken to Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center where he later died, Young said.

``I respond to a lot of different calls. But it's a little different when it's in front of your own home,'' said Navarro, who's lived in the neighborhood for five years.

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