LOS ANGELES -- A 22-year-old drifter who took over a swank Beverly Hillsjewelry store in an aborted robbery attempt was charged with murdering three hostages, including the one who was shot dead by a sheriff's sniper.
Steven Livaditis, 22, was also charged Thursday with 12 other felony counts of robbery, false imprisonment and kidnapping. Special circumstances inlcuding murder during a robbery were also alleged, which would make Livaditis eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
Sheriff's deputies said it will be at least a week before Livaditis, who was born in Brooklyn and lived in Las Vegas, Nev., before moving to Los Angeles, is well enough to be transported to Beverly Hills Municipal Court for arraignment.
He was in satisfactory condition in the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center with burns suffered when sheriff's deputies tossed 'flash-bang' grenades at him as he tried to escape late Monday with three hostages.
District Attorney's spokesman Al Albergate said Livaditis requires a breathing tube because he inhaled flames from the flash grenades.
Authorities say Livaditis robbed the posh Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills shortly after 10 a.m. Monday and then ducked back inside and took five employees hostage when a police officer summoned by a silent alarm surprised him as he was making his getaway.
During the ensuing standoff, police say Livaditis stabbed to death security guard William R. Smith, 54, and shot saleswoman Ann Heilperin, 40, in the back of the head, killing her.
In a telephone conversation with UPI during the siege, Livaditis said he killed Smith because 'he failed to obey my orders.' He said he had no regrets about killing the guard.
About 13 hours after the siege began, Livaditis and the three surviving hostages suddenly went out a side door shrouded in a drape, apparently headed for a parked car. Deputies foiled the escape by tossing the flash grenades. A SWAT team sniper perched 100 yards away on a rooftop shot store manager Hugh Skinner to death, believing he was the robber.
The two other hostages, Robert Taylor, 60, the store's shipping clerk, and Carol Lambert, 42, a saleswoman, survived. Lambert was seriously burned on her face, chest and hands, while Taylor was not seriously hurt.
Livaditis allegedly had about $2 million worth of gems and watches in a briefcase when deputies pounced on him.
Livaditis, who is on probation from a Las Vegas burglary conviction, is also charged with a daytime robbery at a Zales Jewelers store in the Nevada city on Feb. 2.
