An Auburn businessman will spend 10 years in prison for shooting an acquaintance three times and seriously wounding him outside the Sports Page Tavern on Auburn Way North on Dec. 4, 2007.

In Dec. 2008, a jury found Edo “Eddie” Aslanyan, 39, owner of Millenia Jewelry Design 1525 A St. NE, guilty of first-degree assault in the shooting of 31-year old Tigran Koshkaryan.

At Aslanyan’s Feb. 12 sentencing, Superior Court Judge Sharon Armstrong handed him five years for the assault and another five for using a weapon to commit the offense.

Aslanyan never denied shooting Koshkaryan, but he maintained that he had acted in self-defense. Koshkaryan sustained a collapsed lung and other serious injuries in the shooting.

According to court documents, Aslanyan and Koshkaryan had met several months before the incident through a mutual acquaintance, and the younger man even bought jewelry from Aslanyan.

According to court documents, the history of the shooting dates to a dispute two days prior. On Dec. 2, 2007, Aslanyan and his wife had hosted a barbecue and party at their home to which they had invited many fellow members of the Armenian community from the Seattle area.

According to court documents, Koshkaryan and Aslanyan’s godson exchanged words, then fists before friends pulled them apart. Aslanyan told police he was later forced to disarm Koshkaryan of a steak knife as Koshkaryan was approaching Aslanyan’s godson in a menacing way.

On the day of the shooting, court documents say, Aslanyan tried to play peacemaker between the men and summoned them to a meal. According to Koshkaryan’s affidavit, he thought the issue was resolved.

Later that day Aslanyan called Koshkaryan to meet him at his store four doors away from the Sports Page Tavern at 2814 Auburn Way N. in the same business park where Aslanyan’s business was then located.

According to court documents, both men had been drinking.

Eyewitnesses said the two men started to yell at each other from a distance before coming into contact. Koshkaryan said Aslanyan refused to let the earlier dispute drop so he tried to leave.

Ashlanyan said Koshkaryan was still angry and that he advised him not to talk to him “like a little punk,” whereupon, he claimed, Koshkaryan head butted him and the two tussled.

At that point, witnesses said, they heard shots.

Koshkaryan, bleeding heavily from wounds in his left upper arm, left chest and lower right back, stumbled into the tavern and collapsed. Immediately after the shooting, Aslanyan called 911 to report a shooting in response to an attempted robbery. He laid down his weapon, a Taurus .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol, and met responding officers with his hands raised. He told officers he kept pistol for his business and for self defense.

Aslanyan is married with two children.