SIS UNIT SHOOTS, KILLS 2 SUSPECTS : MEN MAY BE LINKED TO TRAVEL AGENCY ROBBERIES.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer

Two men suspected in a string of travel agency robberies were shot and killed Saturday after being trailed from a robbery to a house in Reseda where they confronted detectives from the LAPD's elite Special Investigation Section, police said.

Four detectives opened fire about 9:50 a.m., killing the two unidentified men in their mid-20s in the driveway of a house in the 19400 block of Hatton Street, said Lt. Sharyn Buck, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

``The officers believed their lives were in danger, although the suspects did not fire at them,'' Buck said.

One of the suspects was fired on when he reached into his waistband, Buck said. It was not immediately revealed whether he was armed, she said.

Police said they recovered a 9 mm semiautomatic assault gun at the scene.

No officers were injured in the shooting and no one was reported injured in the earlier armed robbery at a Granada Hills travel agency, she said.

The shooting was being investigated by the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division.

Neighbors reported hearing at least eight shots.

``I heard tires screeching and a lot of real loud yelling,'' said Richard Kjarsgaard. ``Then there was a very quick volley of gunfire. The gunshots sounded like they were right outside my window. There was a lot of it - I figure 10 shots or more.''

Seven people were arrested Saturday for alleged involvement in the robbery, police said. Police booked Oswaldo Arevalo, 34, of Reseda; Manuel Echeverria, 34, of Van Nuys; Ignacio Vega, 25, of Panorama City; Herman Segura, 42, of Encino; Jaime Rozo, 26, of Reseda; Felipe Arevalo, 42, of Reseda; and Luz Martinez, 21, of Reseda. Police did not release further details.

The ring is believed responsible for at least 20 robberies of travel agencies in the San Fernando Valley.

The Special Investigation Section detectives have had the alleged robbery ring under surveillance since January, Buck said. Several members of the ring have been arrested since then.

The armed robbers went after blank airline tickets, which are often printed for international flights on short notice and illegally sold on the street for about half the face value of $1,000 or more, airline officials said.

The SIS, which tracks and arrests the city's most violent criminals, has come under criticism by civil rights groups for tactics such as putting known criminals under surveillance and allowing them to commit crimes before moving in to make an arrest. On several occasions that has led to gun battles.

Prior to Saturday's shooting, SIS detectives had been following the two men, as well as two alleged accomplices in another car, before the men allegedly robbed a travel agency in the 17000 block of Chatsworth Street about 9:30 a.m.

Two men, later identified as those killed by police, went into the office and took blank airline tickets and vouchers, Buck said. The three employees in the office were not hurt and the tickets, purses and cash were recovered at the scene of the shooting, she said.

Officials said the detectives continued to trail the suspects after they left the office, but did not know a robbery had occurred until they heard a radio dispatch describing the robbers, she said. That description matched the men and vehicles being followed, she said.

One of the cars was pulled over in Winnetka and its two occupants were taken into custody without incident, she said. They were interviewed but not immediately arrested.

The other car, a 1991 Lincoln Towncar, was followed to Hatton Street by SIS detectives in two unmarked cars.

``The suspects were followed here by our detectives and once they were confronted a shooting occurred,'' Buck said.

It was not known whether the men lived in that house, but police said at least four people ran from the residence after the shooting.

About an hour after the shooting, Karina Medellin, 15, and other family members asked police to search a storage shed in their back yard.

``We knew something was going on because we never close the doors to the little house,'' Medellin said.

Police opened the doors and found two men hiding inside. They were also taken into custody for questioning.

Shootings involving the SIS unit have sparked several federal lawsuits and four SIS shootings have been investigated by the FBI, although at least two of those investigations were closed without action.

The unit has arrested more than 700 suspects, including 300 armed suspects, in the past 15 years.

Two of its members were awarded the LAPD's highest honor, the Medal of Valor, last year after each detective was seriously wounded in a fire fight with two armed robbers outside a Ventura County liquor store in 1995. That shooting left one suspect dead and the other wounded.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) A detective investigates the scene after the shooting on Saturday.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

(2) Los Angeles police officers take two men into custody after finding them hiding in a tool shed.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer