It all started with a smell of chemical fumes coming out of a luxury apartment in Los Angeles. When the police showed up, they found machine guns, counterfeiting equipment and $15,000 in high quality counterfeit Benjamins. The suspect bolted out the window, jumping across a series of balconies.

The hunt for a fugitive likened to Jason-Bourne ended up six months later with an equally mysterious question of “Who is Brian Alexik?”

The door was barricaded. A cache of loaded weapons, including an AK-47, sat next to a mosaic depicting the CIA seal. They found equipment for counterfeiting money. High-powered binoculars were trained on the U.S. Federal Reserve building next door.

What followed was a six-week hunt for a suspect who had slipped out of the fire escape moments earlier and whose evasiveness drew comparisons to fictional agent Jason Bourne.

Police would eventually find their man, Brian Alexik, hiding out in his girlfriend’s apartment less than a mile from where he fled. But three weeks on, detectives are still trying to figure out just who he is, what plot they may have thwarted and whether he was a lone wolf or part of a larger group.

It didn’t end, however, like in the movies:

“He got caught,” Detective Dan Logan said. “When I interviewed him, he didn’t knock me out, take my gun and take my recorder like in the movies. He’s not as smart or resourceful as the Jason Bourne character.”

Link (Photo: LA Police Department)