Panorama City fugitive arrested in Armenia

Los Angeles Daily News
April 7 2006

Panorama City fugitive arrested in Armenia

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Panorama City man accused of killing two
gang rivals more than a decade ago was arrested in Armenia, the FBI
announced.
Vahagn Akopyan, 33, was arrested by Armenian authorities in the
capital of Yerevan on Wednesday, said J. Stephen Tidwell, assistant
director in charge of the FBI office in Los Angeles.

Akopyan was being held until it was determined whether he will be
deported to the United States or charged in Armenia, Tidwell
announced Thursday.

Akopyan had been sought in connection

with the May 1994 murder of two reputed gang rivals and the attempted
murder of a third on Hollywood Boulevard.

He was believed to have returned to his native Armenian shortly after
the killings. A state arrest warrant was issued in 1994 and a federal
warrant accusing him of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution was
issued in 2002.