Arpels Manager Was Slain in Belief He Was Gunman

The manager of a Beverly Hills jewelry store was shot and killed by a sheriff’s sharpshooter after a 13 1/2-hour hostage siege because he was mistaken for the fleeing gunman, Sheriff Sherman Block said Wednesday.

“It was not an accidental shooting,” Block told a press conference. “The person who was shot was, in fact, the person he had fired at. . . . It was a tragic end--a mistake.”

Deputy George Johnson, a 13-year-veteran, fired a single rifle shot from his rooftop perch, about 100 yards from the store parking lot that was the shooting scene, after a spotter, Deputy Jon Rhodes, who was positioned next to him, reported, “ ‘He has a gun. He’s going to shoot,’ ” Block said.

Hugh Skinner, 64, the longtime manager of the Van Cleef & Arpels store, was one of three hostages killed in the bloody siege. The bodies of two other employees--saleswoman Ann Heilperin and security guard William Richard Smith--were found inside the store, apparently executed by the robber.

Suspect Steven Livaditis, 22, was feigning death when he was arrested immediately after the shooting, Block said. A fully loaded, high-caliber revolver was hidden under his body.

Block said that in the hours before the standoff ended, he and Beverly Hills Police Chief Marvin Iannone discussed a number of options that officers might take--including surreptitiously entering the building, if it was learned that any of the hostages had been harmed.

The suspect had indicated by telephone several times during the day that he had killed one or two of his captives, claims that were confirmed by hostages Heilperin and Skinner in phone conversations with reporters. But authorities maintained during that period that they believed the gunman was bluffing.

“In other conversations, he denied having killed a hostage,” Block said. “We were fairly certain in believing the killing had not occurred. . . . He (Livaditis) said, ‘I really didn’t.’ ”

Mistaken Target

The sheriff said “the combination of circumstances” led the marksman and spotter to believe the store manager was their target as Livaditis, with his three hostages, attempted to slip out a side door, shortly after indicating to authorities that he was planning to remain inside the Rodeo Drive store throughout the night.

Livaditis’ attempted escape at about 11:30 p.m. took authorities by surprise.

Block said the gunman and the hostages were covered by a dark drape as they left the store. Officers stationed outside could see only the legs of three men and a woman underneath. Two of the men were wearing dark pants and the third wore gray pants.

(Store employees who had escaped when the attempted robbery began about 10 a.m. Monday told authorities that the gunman was wearing a gray suit.)

Two deputies lobbed “flash-bang” concussion grenades at the quartet to divert them and, Block said, the man wearing the gray pants became separated from the others. The sheriff said that the man, Skinner, fell to the ground, then raised himself into a sitting position and extended his arm toward the group huddled under the blanket. (When asked by reporters if Livaditis might have changed clothes with Skinner, Block replied that it was a possibility that was under investigation.)

It was at that moment, Block said, that the spotter issued his warning about a gun. Johnson fired his rifle once, the bullet hitting Skinner in the chest.

“It was a clear shot,” Block said.

Night Scopes Used

The sheriff said deputies used night scopes and had a clear view of the parking lot area, which was illuminated.

Deputies rushed forward to find three people tightly tied together under the blanket. Livaditis was one of them. He was lying face-down. In order to separate him from the two surviving hostages, deputies had to cut away their bindings. Skinner had not been bound to the others.

Rhodes, 32, an eight-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, later told investigators that he saw a shiny object when Skinner raised his hand, Block said.

“Whether it was light reflected, who knows?” the sheriff said. “A ring, a watch? I have no idea at that distance. He had car keys.”

Block speculated that Skinner had not been bound to the others and carried keys because he was to drive the getaway car. Livaditis and his captives were headed toward a car in a nearby parking lot.

“Perhaps it was planned that he might mistakenly be seen as the suspect,” Block also theorized.

The marksman has the ultimate authority in such situations on whether to shoot, Block said. Johnson, 42, and Rhodes, like other deputies involved in fatal shootings, will be off field duty for the next five days and will undergo psychological counseling.

Backed by Sheriff

Block was not critical of their conduct, adding that Johnson--a member of the special weapons team for more than three years and a highly trained marksman--was “absolutely” justified in taking his shot.

Iannone, who had overall command of the operation, has said that actions by law officers throughout the siege were correct.

Block, however, said other options--such as a “stealth entry” through the roof--would have received greater consideration if authorities had been convinced that the gunman had already killed hostages.

Even though two hostages had verified that a man was dead, police negotiators questioned their statements because of the possibility that Livaditis was telling them what to say. Iannone and Block also raised the possibility that the hostages may have been influenced by the so-called “Stockholm syndrome.”

The syndrome refers to what psychologists say is the not uncommon phenomenon of hostages sympathizing with their captors because of dependency on them and the pressures of confinement.

The term was coined in the early 1970s to describe the extreme behavior of a woman held hostage in a Stockholm bank robbery. She later became so emotionally involved with her captor that she broke a marriage engagement with another man.

Syndrome Considered

Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mike Hunt said Wednesday that “the distinct possibility” of the Stockholm syndrome was considered during Monday’s decision-making process.

“The feeling that the negotiator got from the hostages was they didn’t seem overly excited. . . . They got the feeling, if something happened as bad as was described, they probably would have been more emotional,” Hunt said. “Whether they were in such a state of shock that they came across as low-key, we don’t know. Or whether it was some effect of the Stockholm syndrome, we don’t know.”

Block, describing the relationship between the gunman and his captives as Monday wore on, said it was “almost like a person discussing issues with their staff. . . . He apparently would turn to the hostages and there was interchange and conversation going on.”

In the hour before the attempted escape, the hostages helped the gunman fashion the bindings that held them together, Block said.

“It may have been under threat, or the Stockholm syndrome,” the sheriff added.

Beverly Hills police detectives interviewed Robert Taylor and Carol Lambert--the two surviving hostages--on Wednesday, but Hunt declined to describe what was said.

In weighing their options, Block and Iannone ruled out storming the building because of its vault-like security. The possibility of using explosives to blast through the front door also was rejected.

Roof Break-in

A more viable option, Block said, was to try to break through the roof and slip special weapons team members down into the building.

With that in mind, Block said, he called Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates at 4:30 p.m. and requested the LAPD’s police battering ram as a possible diversionary tactic at the front door.

Hunt said a tractor equipped with a heavy shovel, owned by Beverly Hills, was also being considered.

“We looked at just about everything,” the lieutenant said.

Autopsies conducted Wednesday on the three dead hostages showed that the two who were killed inside the store died at least eight hours before the siege ended, coroner’s spokesman Bill Gold said. Miss Heilperin, 40, a saleswoman who lived in Beverly Hills, died of a gunshot wound in the back of the head. Smith, 54, a security guard from Los Angeles, was stabbed in the back.

Killed by Gunshot

Examination confirmed that Skinner, who lived in West Hollywood, died from the gunshot wound in his chest, Gold said.

Lambert, 42, a saleswoman who lives in Culver City, was seriously burned on the face, chest and hands. She was in fair condition Wednesday at Brotman Memorial Hospital’s burn unit.

Taylor, 60, of Los Angeles, the store’s shipping clerk, had complained of chest pains, but was released from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Livaditis, a Las Vegas resident who had recently moved to Hollywood, remained in custody at County-USC Medical Center jail ward, where he was being treated for minor burns he received from the flash grenades.