Trial to begin for local shooting

The suspect arrested in the Dec. 25, 2005, shooting of a Habibi
Cafe patron was ordered Tuesday by a Superior Court judge to stand
trial.

Rafael Martirosyan was ordered to stand trial by L.A. Superior
Court Judge Donna Groman. In a preliminary hearing Groman ruled
that there was enough evidence to have Martirosyan stand trial for
the felony charges against him, said Jane Robison, press secretary
for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.

Martirosyan faces one count of premeditated attempted murder and
one count of shooting from a motor vehicle.

He is scheduled to appear for a second arraignment on Feb. 21 at
the Los Angeles Superior Court Airport Courthouse, Robison
said.

She added that he is currently being held in custody at the
North County Correctional Facility without bail, according to the
Los Angeles County’s Sheriff’s Department records.

Martirosyan was arrested at his apartment in Los Angeles on Dec.
28, said West Los Angeles Police Detective Ron Phillips.

The case against Martirosyan was filed on Dec. 29, and his first
arraignment was held Dec. 30, in which Martirosyan pleaded not
guilty to the charges against him.

The shooting of which Martirosyan is accused occurred at 1:43
a.m. on Dec. 25, when a single bullet crashed through the front
window of Habibi Cafe in Westwood Village, striking 36-year-old
Fouad Salik in the head, according to an LAPD press release.

The incident took place following a fight between two men inside
the Broxton Avenue restaurant. Cafe security guards broke up the
scuffle and removed the fighting patrons from the
establishment.

Martirosyan, one of the men involved in the altercation, left
the cafe with a group of friends and later returned in a vehicle,
according to the press release.

While in the car, Martirosyan then allegedly leaned out of the
passenger window and fired one shot at a man standing outside the
cafe who was involved in the earlier argument.

The bullet missed the man and went through the cafe’s
front window, striking Salik in the head, Phillips said.

Salik was immediately taken to UCLA Medical Center, where he was
in critical condition at the time, though UCLA medical officials
have repeatedly refused to comment on his current condition.

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