Suspect Charged With Beverly Hills Hate Crime

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — A man was arrested Thursday in connection with a hate crime in which several suspects assaulted employees of a restaurant in Beverly Hills and damaged the business.

The crime occurred at the Café Istanbul, in the 300 block of South Beverly Drive, about 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 4, according to the Beverly Hills Police Department.

William Stepanyan, 22, of Glendale, was arrested in Glendale and booked on suspicion of committing a hate crime, robbery and burglary, police said. He was in custody on a probation hold without bail, and scheduled to appear in court on Monday in the Airport Courthouse.

"A joint investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles County Probation Department resulted in the arrest of one of the primary suspects responsible for (the) hate crime," Beverly Hills police said in a statement.

"The suspects destroyed property and physically attacked the employees inside the restaurant and later in the alley outside of the restaurant," police said. "The victims stated that the suspects made derogatory comments during the incident."

According to a report released by police shortly after the crime, six to eight men between 20 and 30 years old entered the restaurant, made pro-Armenia statements to the employees, destroyed property inside the establishment and attacked employees both inside and in an alley outside. The owners' son told the Los Angeles Times that a group of masked men began destroying the restaurant's outdoor dining area, flinging chairs and shattering dishes.

"They were chanting that they wanted Turks to die, and they were here to kill Turks," he told the Times.

The son said that the men allegedly vandalized the inside of the restaurant and stole iPhones his parent left behind. He also claimed that over the past few months anonymous callers have made death threats and vowed to "burn down your restaurant while you're eating breakfast with your family."

One of the owners of the stores was allegedly was struck in the back and suffered minor injuries, but refused medical treatment at the scene, police said. The day after, the restaurant's windows were covered in plywood, and signs taped to the wood read, "Armenians attacked this business."

The incident is believed to be related to an ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a country supported by Turkey, over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh that resulted in a large demonstration in Beverly Hills in October, and many others across the Los Angeles region, which is home to one of the largest Armenian diasporas in the world. A ceasefire was brokered Tuesday between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

— City News Service and Patch staffer Michael Wittner contributed to this report.

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