A young man and a teenaged minor were arrested on Thursday in connection with a fatal three-car crash that left three dead, Burbank police have reported.
Hamlet Arseni Aghajanyan, 19, of Burbank, and a 17-year-old unnamed suspect were booked on suspicion of three counts of murder and one count of reckless driving. Police believe both were engaged in an illegal street race that caused the crash.
The crash occurred shortly before midnight on Aug. 4 at North Glenoaks Boulevard and Andover Drive in Burbank, police Sgt. Emil Brimway told City News Service. Brimway added that the victims of the crash, 21-year-old Raekwon Baker of Pasadena, 20-year-old Jaiden Kishon Johnson of Burbank and 19-year-old Natalee Asal Moghaddam of Calabasas, were not involved in the alleged street race.
All three were ejected from the same vehicle upon impact and died of their injuries at the scene. A fourth occupant has sustained serious injuries and is presently being treated at a local trauma center.
Aghajanyan, who was found seriously injured inside the vehicle he had been driving, was also taken to a trauma center for treatment.
The 17-year-old presently in police custody and a passenger riding in the same vehicle were unhurt.
Brimway said Aghajanyan and the 17-year-old were driving their respective vehicles northbound on North Glenoaks Boulevard at a high rate of speed and appeared to be racing one another. The car carrying the victims was attempting a left turn from South Glenoaks Boulevard, heading eastbound on Andover Drive when the collision occurred.
One of the vehicles was “partially broken in half,” police reported.
Aghajanyan is being held on $6 million bail and is expected to appear in court on Monday. The minor in custody has been booked into a juvenile detention facility.
Burbank police are still investigating the collision and have asked anyone with information to contact the department’s Investigation Division at (818) 238-3210.
