Updated Friday: Deputy District Attorney Spokeswoman Jane Robison said Sarukhanyan is ordered back to court Aug. 31 for the judge to set his prelminary hearing date, but it may be pushed back again.
A Tujunga man who was is in a Pasadena Superior courtroom today to determine his preliminary hearing date, officials said.
According to a complaint filed against Aram Sarukhanyan, 27, the Los Angeles County District Attorney alleges that the suspect fired a gun at his cousin, 33-year-old Adrine Arzumnyan, killing her.
Arzumnyan's body was found dumped near the La Crescenta Avenue off-ramp along the westbound Foothill (210) Freeway on April 29. He allegedly pointed a handgun at a driver who tried to stop him immediately after he pushed his cousin's body out of the vehicle, the district attorney said in a news release.
The Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed that Arzumnyan died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Sarukhanyan was found alongside the southbound Glendale (2) Freeway near Mountain Street and had sustained self-inflicted gunshot wounds in an apparent suicide attempt, said sheriff's homicide detective Lt. Michael Rosson of the . He was hospitalized at Huntington Memorial Hospital and released on May 10.
He is charged with one count each of murder and brandishing a firearm at a person in a motor vehicle, authorities said. Sarukhanyan could face more than 50 years to life in prison.
Rosson confirmed that Sarukhanyan is not married, and that he had a gun registered in his name.
