Slain Kidnap Suspect Was Out on Bail : He, Alleged Partner Had Been Freed Days Before in Similar Case

A man who was shot and killed by police Saturday as he and an alleged accomplice were being pursued after they reportedly kidnaped and sexually assaulted a woman had been released on bail five days earlier for almost identical crimes, Los Angeles police said Tuesday.

Police said they believe that as a result of the shooting and a subsequent arrest in the case, they may have “headed off a serious crime spree.”

Lt. Richard LeGarra of the Northeast Division said the dead man, who went under the names George Mkhizian and Sahak Mkhitayrn, and his alleged partner, Hagop Bekhloyan, 24, were arrested Nov. 30 after abducting a man from a Hollywood nightclub and sexually assaulting him.

In that case, the victim escaped from his abductors’ car and flagged down a passing police car. LeGarra said the men were arrested but were released after posting $6,000 bail each.

Driving Away

Then on Saturday, police said, the two men were chased by officers in the Los Feliz area after a woman approached a patrol car and told them she had been kidnaped, sexually assaulted and robbed of $170 by two men who were at that moment driving away in a Cadillac.

Bekhloyan, who jumped from the car and fled, was arrested later Saturday at a restaurant where he was employed, police said.

Mkhizian, 20, was shot and killed by Officer Howard Beardsley after he first rammed a police car with the Cadillac, ran through several residential yards and finally turned toward the officer and brandished a screwdriver.

LeGarra said neighbors reported hearing Beardsley order Mkhizian to drop the weapon, which Beardsley believed to be a knife. When Mkhizian refused and appeared to throw the weapon, Beardsley fired one round, killing him, LeGarra said.

LeGarra, saying the weekend incident may have “headed off a serious crime spree,” added that police have issued a bulletin to other law enforcement agencies, seeking reports of similar crimes that may have occurred in recent months. In addition, police are asking members of the public who may have been victims of the pair to come forward.

‘Other Victims’

“We think there are other victims out there who may be ashamed to come forward,” LeGarra said. “In our minds, if we had not caught them that night, they probably would have gone out and done the same things to someone else.”

He said Bekhloyan was being held at Parker Center for investigation of several crimes, including kidnaping, rape, sodomy, forced oral copulation and robbery.