LAPD SAYS SLAIN OFFICER WAS UNABLE TO RETURN GUNFIRE.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

Despite the deployment of semiautomatic rifles in patrol cars after the North Hollywood bank robbery, LAPD Officer Brian Brown couldn't have stopped the burst of gunfire that killed him over the weekend, police said Tuesday.

``It was a very short pursuit and the resulting confrontation was spontaneous, so there would have been no time to deploy additional weaponry,'' LAPD Cmdr. Dave Kalish said.

Brown and his partner, Francisco Dominguez, did not have enough time even to reach their shotguns, and would not have had time to fire the assault rifle either, Kalish said.

``When you're up against a high-powered rifle, your options are limited,'' he said. ``It's increasingly difficult when young men and women in our department are facing weapons of war. And we're not equipped to fight a war in our neighborhoods.''

Also, Brown and Dominguez were following department protocol and had proper backup from a second squad car when the attack occurred, Kalish said.

``It's one of these situations when there wasn't a whole lot that could be done differently,'' he said. ``We get paid to chase down suspects and apprehend them. That's what these guys were doing.''

Brown died in a barrage of gunfire Sunday while chasing a drive-by shooting suspect in Culver City.

Dominguez fatally shot the suspect, Oscar Zatarain, a 23-year-old gang member from Rancho Cucamonga. Officers shot a second suspect after chasing him to Los Angeles International Airport.

Police have not determined the identity of the man killed in the drive-by, and they have not sought charges against the second suspect, who remains hospitalized and is expected to survive, Kalish said. Police are withholding the identity of that man.

Zatarain was found holding a Reuger Mini 14 assault rifle, and police located an AK-47 at the site of the drive-by on Centinela Avenue.

Both of those are legal in semiautomatic form under California's assault weapons laws, Kalish said. He said police are investigating whether either gun had been converted into an automatic.

Following similar attacks during the 1997 North Hollywood bank robbery, police boosted their own firepower in defense.

Officers may now carry .45-caliber handguns instead of smaller 9 mm models, Kalish said, and can use lead rifle slugs in shotguns to stop heavily armed suspects.

In addition, several squad cars in each area carry converted versions of M-16 military rifles, he said. But not every car has such a rifle, and those that do, carry them in the trunk, Kalish said. He said he was unsure whether Brown's squad car was equipped with one.

The incident occurred amid a record drop in violent crime citywide. Police Chief of Staff David Gascon told the Police Commission on Tuesday that homicides for the year to date had dropped nearly 30 percent, down to levels similar to 1970.