What Happened in Unit 701?
Police Searching for Man Who Assembled Weapons, Made Counterfeit Money in South Park Loft
by Ryan Vaillancourt
Published: Friday, April 30, 2010 4:32 PM PDT
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - When a resident of the Reserve Lofts smelled gasoline emanating from unit 701 in the early evening of April 19, the Fire Department got a nervous call. The concerned resident couldn’t have known that the act would be the first domino to tumble, ultimately setting off an ongoing manhunt for a figure police warn should be considered armed and dangerous.
When fire and police officials arrived at unit 701 shortly after 6 p.m., the man inside, 33-year-old Brian Alexik, refused to open the door. After unlocking the door with a key, the door remained blocked by a homemade contraption that functioned as a second lock. By the time police broke down the door with a battering ram, Alexik had fled his unit, apparently escaping via a fire escape.
The source of the fumes was immediately apparent: Alexik, who police say sometimes went by the name Ken Shurin and is of Russian descent, had been using a gasoline-powered electric generator. But the generator was perhaps the least surprising thing authorities found.
Also in the apartment was approximately $15,000 in counterfeit money and the equipment used to make it. Police officials said the fake bills were of “high quality.” Additionally, there was an AK-47, a sawed-off shotgun and other evidence that suggests Alexik was manufacturing weapon parts. He also had an array of fake identification documents.
More:
http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articles/2010/05/01/news/doc4bdb628fbe994305974657.txt