LOS ANGELES – A North Hollywood man has been sentenced to 84 months in federal prison for possessing five firearms and more than 300 rounds of live ammunition inside the Glendale Galleria mall during the holiday shopping season, the Justice Department announced today.
Tigran Zmrukhtyan, 29, was sentenced Monday by United States District Judge Mark C. Scarsi after pleading guilty in July 2021 to one count of being felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.
On December 18, 2020, Zmrukhtyan walked into the Macy’s department store in the Glendale Galleria with a duffel bag full of guns and ammunition. Zmrukhtyan attempted to steal clothes and was eventually detained by loss-prevention employees and Glendale Police Department officers.
When he was detained, Zmrukhtyan had a .380-caliber handgun tucked into his waistband with one round in the chamber and six bullets in the magazine. Inside the duffel bag, officers found four additional firearms, some already loaded, as well as high-capacity magazines loaded with bullets.
Before his arrest, Zmrukhtyan had been convicted of 19 felonies, including the 2016 burglary of a Burbank gun store during which he stole 10 firearms.
“[Zmrukhtyan’s] conduct in this case was not an aberration,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “For more than a decade, [Zmrukhtyan] has engaged in a streak of criminal activity that has seemingly worsened with each conviction.”
The FBI and the Glendale Police Department investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Maxwell K. Coll of the Asset Forfeiture Section prosecuted this case.