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Burbank police shoot kidnapping suspect who rammed into patrol car

Investigators comb the scene of an officer-involved shooting, in which a kidnapping suspect led Burbank police on a short pursuit Thursday morning. He was shot after slamming his truck into a patrol car, officials said.

Investigators comb the scene of an officer-involved shooting, in which a kidnapping suspect led Burbank police on a short pursuit Thursday morning. He was shot after slamming his truck into a patrol car, officials said.

(Raul Roa / Burbank Leader)
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Police shot a 21-year-old man early Thursday morning after he led them on a short pursuit before slamming into a patrol car in Burbank, police said.

Around 4:10 a.m., officers responded to the 99 Cents Only store at Victory Boulevard and Buena Vista Street, where a 36-year-old woman told police she was kidnapped by a man in a white pickup, Burbank Police Sgt. Claudio Losacco said.

Police spotted a white truck heading west on Victory Boulevard and tried to stop the driver, later identified as Arthur Papiyan, who took off, speeding through red lights, Losacco said.

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After a short pursuit, Papiyan stopped at Victory Boulevard and Pass Avenue, where two officers remained by their patrol car with their guns drawn, calling the driver to them.

Papiyan then reversed the truck and slammed it into the patrol car, at which point police shot him, Losacco said.

One round pierced the driver’s seat and struck Papiyan’s back, leaving a “significant” bruise, Losacco said. Neither officer was injured.

After he was treated at the hospital, Papiyan was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on an officer.

The woman later told police she left a house party in South Los Angeles on foot when a man drove up next to her and offered her a ride.

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She told police she accepted, and he drove onto the freeway, but didn’t get off at the right exit.

She said the driver then put a rag over her face, and the next thing she knew, she was out of the truck near railroad tracks, Losacco said.

The woman then walked to the 99 Cents Only store and called police.

Officers have not verified the woman’s story, and Papiyan was not booked on suspicion of kidnapping.

Papiyan is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail and is due in court next week.

The woman, who was being uncooperative, was arrested on two outstanding misdemeanor warrants for prostitution.

As of noon, Victory Boulevard remained closed to traffic from Kenwood to Valley streets.

Burbank resident Marla Hancock, whose two children attend the preschool less than a block from where Papiyan was shot, heard about the incident on social media and called the school to make sure the man was in custody.

“They weren’t going to come to school if the guy was on the loose, like last time,” she said, referring to a suspect who was at large for more than three weeks after shooting two people in a Burbank neighborhood.

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During that time, the man reportedly committed several other violent crimes throughout Los Angeles County.

“There’s been too much in Burbank lately,” Hancock said, referring to crime in the city. “It makes me want to sell and move.”

Tchekmedyian writes for Times Community News.

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