OFFICER SAYS `ANGEL' PROTECTED HIM IN GUNFIGHT.

Byline: Peter Hartlaub Daily News Staff Writer

While a Los Angeles police officer was recovering Friday after being wounded in a gunbattle, his partner credited a small gold angel pin with keeping him safe during that shootout, authorities said.

Los Angeles police Officers Donald Boon, 32, and Manuel Solis, 24, were wounded Thursday while investigating a report of a potentially mentally ill man in a Lake View Terrace home.

Boon, 32, was hit twice and had multiple bullet fragments in his left thigh, but was in stable condition at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center on Friday and might go home today, police spokesman Lt. Anthony Alba said.

``He was up and walking around the hospital,'' Alba said.

Solis, 24, who is hailed as a hero for pulling Boon to safety, was treated for a grazing wound to his face and then released from the hospital Thursday.

Alba said Solis believes the rain of gunfire missed him because of his angel pin, a piece of gold jewelry that had been attached to his protective vest.

``Officer Solis said the pin protected him during the shooting,'' Alba said.

Somehow while trading shots with the gunman and pulling Boon to safety, the pin was lost. Alba said police searched the hospital and Kathyann Street where the shooting occurred, but never came up with the angel.

Police weren't saying much Friday about the suspect, Reynaldo Rivera, who held officers at bay for 90 minutes before surrendering peacefully. Rivera was taken into custody and arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Authorities said Thursday that the officers were responding to a 911 call from Rivera's wife, who met them outside the house before the shooting occurred. Alba described the call as a ``possible male mental case.''

Alba said police recovered from the scene an AR-15 rifle and six magazines - each fully loaded with 30 shots.

On Kathyann Street, Rivera's house had one of the tidiest yards in the quiet neighborhood, with only a few bullet holes in the walls and some wadded-up yellow police tape on the front sidewalk bearing evidence of the shootout.

Neighbors said Rivera has owned the house for years, but moved in with his wife and two kids only six months ago.

``They're so quiet, nobody hardly ever sees them,'' said one neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous. ``He'd sit in his garage or play with his kids. There was never any noise coming from over there.''

Another neighbor who lives across the street said police talked to Rivera's wife, then asked to use the neighbor's phone. After making a few calls, officers calmly headed back to the suspect's house, then gunfire erupted. After gunfire erupted, Solis pulled Boon behind a Chevrolet El Camino, the neighbor said.

``When they got shot, one of them yelled in this direction `call an ambulance,' so I did,'' he said.

Alba said Solis and Boon had no reason to believe that the situation would turn as violent as it did.

``Under the circumstances, there's just no way of knowing when you're going from one call to another,'' he said.