American Notes Beverly Hills

As a shopping district so hoity-toity that some stores have unlisted telephone numbers, Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills seldom suffers life's gritty turns. But last week terror exploded in that swank precinct. It came in the form of a respectably dressed young man who buzzed his way into the exclusive Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry store, drew a revolver and announced a robbery. When police arrived almost immediately, the gunman took five people hostage. Protected by the store's bulletproof doors and windows, he killed two hostages: Saleswoman Ann Heilperin, 40, shot in the head, and Security Guard William Smith, 54, stabbed in the back. Beverly Hills police enlisted the SWAT team from the Los Angeles County sheriff's department, and the neighborhood was turned into an armed camp as the siege went on for almost 14 hours.

After negotiations by telephone with the bandit, identified as Steven Livaditis, 22, a fugitive from robbery charges in Las Vegas, police--as yet unaware of the murdered hostages--were confident that he was going to surrender. In the darkness, Livaditis decided to run for it, shielding himself with three hostages and a drape. Police lobbed concussion grenades that knocked the group to the ground, thwarting the escape. When one man separated from the others and pointed back toward them, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy shot and killed him. The dead man, however, was not the gunman; Livaditis was found among his hostages, stunned and only slightly injured. He was later charged with murder, robbery, kidnaping and other crimes. The victim turned out to be the jewelry store's manager, Hugh Skinner, 64. "The shooting was not accidental," Sheriff Sherman Block explained forthrightly. "The marksman shot this individual, convinced that he was the suspect. It was a tragic end."