CITY PANELS TO REVIEW AID GIVEN GUNMAN.

Byline: Jaxon Van Derbeken and Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writers

The heads of Los Angeles' Police and Fire commissions said Wednesday that they will investigate whether the last gunman to die in the North Hollywood bank shootout received proper medical care and could have been saved.

``A question had been raised (by Los Angeles police command staff) about how long he went without treatment,'' said Police Commission President Ray Fisher. ``We would certainly want to know the circumstances and was there a reason for any delay.''

Police acknowledge that an ambulance was held back from 30-year-old Emil Matasareanu for between 20 minutes and 30 minutes because they were unsure whether the area was safe.

The Los Angeles Police Department is conducting its own review, as part of an investigation that occurs routinely after every officer-involved shooting, said Cmdr. Tim McBride, a department spokesman.

As questions emerge about Matasareanu's treatment, police continue to look into the past of the two robbers to determine what drove them and whether they acted alone.

From a search of a Rowland Heights house rented by one gunman, authorities said they have seized duffel bags full of electronic explosive detonators, .50-caliber ammunition and survivalist and weapons literature.

Still a mystery is the whereabouts of $1.67 million that police officials believe Emil Matasareanu and Larry Eugene Phillips Jr., 26, robbed before the North Hollywood heist. The FBI suspects the duo of having robbed two San Fernando Valley banks and an armored car, during which a guard was slain.

Police say the Rowland Heights home was a hide-out for Matasareanu, and that he rented it with his wife, Christina, and his 5-year-old son.

Matasareanu died on Archwood Street after trying to commandeer a truck and engaging the elite police Metro Division in a wild gunfight. He is seen in live TV coverage raising his arms and then falling to the ground. Police officers swarm him, push him down with their feet and then handcuff him.

When he died and whether he received timely medical treatment is unclear.

``That is definitely an issue we will be looking at,'' said Police Commission Inspector General Katherine Mader, whose office reviews all officer-involved shootings.

Metro Division Sgt. Charlie Duke acknowledged that it took 20 minutes to 30 minutes to make the area safe enough for paramedics.

``That's unfortunate,'' Duke said, adding, however, that treatment is given in a specific order.

``You take care of the citizens and the officers first. Then we take care of the suspects. If we were to rush in there, leaving citizens and officers to bleed to death, I think we'd justly be criticized for that,'' Duke said.

Police had reports of a gunman running through back yards, Duke said. ``You saw what the other suspects did - we are not going to put people in harm's way,'' he said.

McBride said he does not know how long Matasareanu lay wounded in the street.

``We got to everybody as soon as we could,'' McBride said, noting that 17 officers and civilians were wounded in the gunfight.

Complicating the decision was the uncertainty about whether suspects were booby-trapped with explosives, McBride said. The bomb squad found no explosives.

``It was a hot area. We thought we had a third suspect,'' McBride said. ``With the kind of firepower they had, we weren't going to take any risk'' with an ambulance crew.

The head of the paramedics union said the police held back the ambulance to ensure the crew's safety. By the time the paramedics arrived, Matasareanu was dead and covered in a sheet, said Ken Buzzell, union president.

``The reports I had were by the time they secured the area, he had already expired,'' Buzzell said.

Fire Commission President David Fleming said his panel will discuss next week whether city paramedics provided timely care to Matasareanu.

``We're going to visit that issue,'' Fleming said.

Investigators say that they still have little insight into Matasareanu's partner, Phillips.

Police seized about $20,000 during a search Tuesday of the Altadena home of Matasareanu's mother, authorities said. Her attorney, Howard Rotter, declined to comment.

During the Rowland Heights raid, Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide investigators found a cache of weapons and other paramilitary items, including ``stun batons,'' lock picks, about 15 patches with sheriff's and police insignias, survivalist literature and manuals on how to alter weaponry and construct bombs.

Also seized was a case containing 100 rounds of .50-caliber ammunition, a modified revolver with a homemade silencer, pepper spray, and hand-held electric stun guns.

The manuals included ``Tactics of the Urban Terrorist,'' as well as material on urban combat and how to elude police capture. Also found were manuals from Paladin Press, a publishing house which provides manuals on how to make weaponry and instructions for survivalists.

Sources said that authorities also found equipment to make false identification, blank birth certificates and blank Social Security cards.

Police say the two men were involved in two May 1996 holdups of Bank of America branches, one in Van Nuys and the second in Winnetka.

Also, Matasareanu and Phillips have been tied to an attack on a Brinks' armored truck in June 1995, during which Herman Cook, 51, was killed. Witnesses said a suspect wore a jacket with a ``SECURITY'' insignia on the back.