Moussa Haroonian was 43 years old when he died on Monday, February 12, 2007, in Westwood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 1441 Veteran Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case, handled by detectives of the West Los Angeles Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described an unusual death. It said Haroonian "collapsed and died in an apartment lobby sometime after having a fistfight with another man" at that address. "Paramedics called to treat the man for injuries had concluded he was not seriously hurt, but he died mysteriously after they left the scene," the Times wrote.
The coroner's finding and the police view of the case did not line up. According to the Times, "medical examiners ruled the case a homicide because Haroonian had some head trauma. But he also had pre-existing medical conditions, and LAPD detectives said district attorneys were unlikely to file a case since the exact mechanism of his death remained murky." The newspaper noted that the case "falls into a rare category" in which the coroner had called the death a homicide but law enforcement had not. The report did not name the other man in the fight or say what the fight was about.
An obituary published by the trade publication Rug News gives a fuller picture of his life. It said he was born in 1963 in Tehran "to a prominent and well-respected family in the rug export trade," was the youngest of four sons and "immigrated to the US at age 15 with his parents." After finishing his studies in 1985, he joined his father and brothers in the family business and "helped establish and manage The Rug Warehouse in Los Angeles."
His brother George Haroonian recalled "his boldness, his sharp eye in business and his innovative mind." The obituary said he "remained loyal to his cultural background and was proud of his Iranian and Jewish heritage," loved classic Iranian music and literature, and "took his Jewish-ness very seriously." It said he died "suddenly" and was survived by his mother, Pari Haroonian, his brothers George and Alexander, and many relatives and friends. His father, Massoud Haroonian, had died six months earlier, in August 2006.
Westwood is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles best known as the home of the University of California, Los Angeles, and of Westwood Village, its shopping and movie theater district. Away from the campus, its streets are lined with apartment buildings and condominiums that house students, families and professionals, along with the high-rise towers of the Wilshire Boulevard corridor.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Moussa Haroonian could be found in news archives or public records. More than 18 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived at or visited the building on Veteran Avenue in February 2007, or who saw or heard the fight in the lobby, may hold information that could help clarify what happened. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
