Local News in Brief : Slain Man Recently Jailed

A man who was shot and killed by police Saturday as he and an alleged accomplice were being pursued after reportedly kidnaping and sexually assaulting a woman had been released on bail five days earlier for similar 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.”

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, a police spokesman said.

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

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