KILLING SHATTERS BURBANK PARADISE -- GRIEF, DISBELIEF FELT OVER 3 DEATHS

August 11, 2007
By EUGENE TONG and NAUSH BOGOHOSSIAN
Staff Writers

BURBANK -- They were neighbors -- a mother studying to be a dentist, a devout and jolly apartment manager and his studious son, and a security guard some described as taciturn, paranoid and prone to arguing.

They lived in a two-story apartment complex in the 600 block of East Cypress Avenue, where children played freely in the courtyard and residents felt safe enough to jog or run errands late into the night.
But the suburban idyll was shattered Thursday afternoon in a shooting rampage that ended in three deaths -- the first multiple homicide in Burbank in about 20 years.

``I'm still trying to wake up from a bad nightmare,'' apartment manager Zack Gerbs said Friday, his eyes welling with tears as he surveyed the bullet-scarred building.

Police were still trying to understand what drove Rafael Shirinian, 49, to kill Vahik Farhadian, 48, the building's resident manager, and Manyam Masihi, 49, the aspiring dentist.

He also wounded Farhadian's 22-year-old son, Oshin, before shooting himself.

``We have no motive other than he couldn't get along with his neighbors and just resorted to an unbelievable act of violence,'' police Sgt. Matt Ferguson said.

Investigators found rifles, pistols and a shotgun at Shirinian's two-bedroom apartment, where he'd lived for five years with his wife, two sons and a daughter.

Residents of the 25-unit building -- those who witnessed the rampage and those who narrowly escaped it -- were reeling from grief and disbelief.

A boy who lived next to Farhadian looked shell-shocked. His father had come out when he heard gunfire and Farhadian's pleas for help, only to find a gun pointed at him and a snarled warning to go back inside.

Another neighbor, who lived two doors from Masihi, narrowly dodged a bullet, which slammed into a wall by his door.

Residents said they often saw Shirinian working on his two Toyota 4Runners in the building's garage.

``He's definitely not a person you get good vibes from,'' said Lisa Eriksson, 36, who lives in the apartment downstairs from Shirinian.

Gerbs described Shirinian as ``pushy,'' often complaining about his neighbors. His most recent complaint, Gerbs said, was about Farhadian's refusal to give him another parking space at the complex.

``He seemed to have killed anybody he had had an argument with in the past five years,'' he said.

Shirinian also was ``paranoid'' about Masihi, the mother of two who was often home studying to become a dentist, Gerbs said.

``He said, `Why does she open the door every time I open my door?''' Gerbs recalled. ```Nobody's watching you,' I told him.''

Police said Shirinian was waiting outside Farhadian's apartment late Thursday when he and his adult son returned from shopping.

There was a bench by the door, with a ceramic plaque reading: ``Thank you for removing your shoes (but no switching for better ones when you leave).''

Gerbs said Shirinian and Farhadian had argued in the garage earlier in the day. When Farhadian arrived, police said, Shirinian shot him several times and wounded his son in the shoulder.

Oshin then ran to Masihi's apartment across the building's courtyard, police and witnesses said.

``There was a blood trail,'' Gerbs said.

When Masihi opened the door, Shirinian shot and killed her, while Oshin and Masihi's teenage son and daughter escaped through a back window, police said.

As police approached, witnesses said Shirinian returned to his apartment. With his two sons locked inside a bedroom, he shot himself in the living room, police said.

Neighbors described Farhadian as very sweet and kind. He was deeply religious, attended services three to four times a week, and appeared in church plays.

He last performed in a play called ``Heaven and Hell,'' where he showed the audience the path to heaven, friend Armen Abrahamian said.

He was a contractor who earlier in the day was preparing a bid to remove concrete at his La Crescenta church, which burned down in a fire in December, Abrahamian said.

He recalled that Farhadian would call him in the mornings and sing a religious song, saying, ``This is my song for the day.''

``We would sing the song together,'' he said.

Oshin, who was recovering at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center on Friday, is studious and always was seen with a backpack, said Arin Hovsepian, 14, a friend who lives across the street.

When he heard the gunfire, Arin said, he ran toward the apartment building and saw Farhadian lying on the sidewalk, twitching.

``I just stood there looking at him for 20 seconds. ... I've seen people dead before but I've never seen someone dying,'' he said.

Homicides are rare in Burbank -- this was the second case this year. In 2006, the city recorded one homicide, which stemmed from a domestic dispute, Ferguson said.

Staff Writers Susan Abram and Jason Kandel contributed to this report.