Family tensions led to fatal shooting

Ben Godar

A domestic dispute apparently was behind the murder-suicide of

three members of the family that owns and operates the popular Zankou

Chicken chain, police said Wednesday.

Police believe 56-year-old Mardiros Iskenderian shot his sister,

45-year-old Dzovig Marjik, his mother, 75-year-old Margarit

Iskenderian, then turned the gun on himself Tuesday afternoon in a

home on the hillside above Oakmont Country Club, Glendale Police

spokesman Sgt. Kirk Palmer said.

Mardiros Iskenderian had driven to the house in the 3400 block of

Ayars Canyon Way, where his sister and mother lived, police said. It

was unclear why he was there, but Palmer said an argument ensued.

Mardiros’ and Dzovig’s bodies were found in the main living area, and

Margarit’s was found near the front door.

Two other people were inside the house, but Palmer said they were

not in the room where the shooting occurred. Their testimony, coupled

with physical evidence and the follow-up investigation, all pointed

to murder-suicide, he said.

An employee with Zankou Chicken in Hollywood said Margarit

Iskenderian started and owned that restaurant, while Mardiros

Iskenderian was in charge of the five other Zankou Chicken locations.

While the business might have contributed to the range of family

issues that led to the shooting, Palmer said it was not the primary

factor. “This is definitely not a business issue. It’s a

domestic-violence incident,” he said.

He also said police might never know exactly what family issues

motivated the shooting. “Unfortunately, the three people who know

that the best are all dead,” he said.

Neighbors still reeling from Tuesday’s violence said the family

kept to itself. Carmen Ohanian has lived across the street from the

home where the shooting occurred for four years, but said she had

never really spoken to anyone from the family. Even so, she didn’t

expect anything like what happened Tuesday.

“There were never any problems or any fighting,” she said.

Some church officials who knew members of the family also

described them as quiet. An official with St. Gregory Armenian

Apostolic Church of Pasadena said Mardiros and Margarit Iskenderian

regularly attended church events, but didn’t participate in church

organizations.

George Terian, pastor of Armenian Cilicia Evangelical Church in

Pasadena, said he knew the family of Dzovig Marjik well, but did not

know of any problems they were having.

“There must have been some tensions, but they never spoke about

any family problems,” he said.