2 Alleged Rapists Surrender After 5 1/2-Hour Standoff

Two men who allegedly raped a woman at gunpoint surrendered to sheriff’s special weapons teams Saturday after barricading themselves in a West Hollywood apartment for 5 1/2 hours.

The two men, both in their 20s, ended the standoff about noon after holing up inside an apartment in the 1200 block of Orange Grove Avenue about 6:30 a.m., said Deputy Diane Hecht of the sheriff’s information bureau. The suspects were identified as Juri Waroschanov, 24, of Austria and Filip Obetsanov, 22, of West Hollywood.

The men had gone with two women to the apartment about 6 a.m. to conduct unknown business, Hecht said. One man pulled out a pistol and threatened to shoot the women if they did not have sex, one of the women said. One woman escaped and called police. As the suspects began driving out of the complex, they saw the deputies, backed up, and ran into the apartment, Hecht said.

After authorities made telephone contact, the two suspects walked out of the apartment and surrendered. Both men were being held on suspicion of sexual assault.