WITNESSES TO SHOOTING QUESTION POLICE TACTICS.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Staff Writer

As police investigated the fatal shooting of a burglary suspect at a gas station, a witness and others Friday said officers chose the wrong place to confront the suspects.

Detectives contended they followed proper procedures Thursday night when they confronted four suspects at a Shell gasoline station to avoid what could have been a dangerous pursuit.

But a witness who was at the station on De Soto Avenue said the police endangered people's lives unnecessarily.

``All the customers were down on the floor about four yards away,'' said the Shell gas station owner in Chatsworth. ``If (shots) hit the pumps, we could have all gone up in flames. I really felt like they could have let them escape and chase after them.''

Police said officers from the Valley Major Crime Violator Task Force used good sense when they cornered the four suspects at the station to avoid a pursuit and possible injuries to others.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office identified the man who was killed as Robert Anthony Burns, 21, of Canoga Park.

Police said Burns, who was driving, ignored police commands, and officers fired their shotguns away from bystanders, with a 20-foot-high cement wall behind the suspects.

``You have to tactically do what you have to do,'' said Detective Roseanne Parino of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division, which is investigating the officer-involved shooting.

``You want to try to get these people so they don't run through the streets. . . . How do you know he's going to go some place better?'' Parino said.

The police team was doing surveillance on the suspects. About 8 p.m. Thursday, Officers Michael Amado, 29, and David Friedrich, 30, both with the department for six years, saw the suspects steal belongings from a vehicle near Lurline Avenue and Lassen Street, said Lt. Sharyn Buck, an LAPD spokeswoman. The plain-clothes officers, in separate vehicles, followed the suspects as they pulled into the station in a Nissan Sentra.

The officers pulled each of their undercover vehicles up to the Sentra, which had parked at the gas pump island. Both officers got out of their cars, armed with shotguns, Buck said. They identified themselves as LAPD police officers.

One man ran away from the vehicle, Buck said. He was arrested after a short pursuit.

The suspect at the wheel of the Nissan put it in reverse and rammed into Amado's vehicle as he was standing behind the driver's door, police said. The door struck Amado, knocking him to the ground. The driver continued to ram Amado's vehicle while the officer was down, Buck said.

Fearing for his partner's life, Friedrich fired two shotgun rounds at the driver, police said. At some point, Amado also fired a single gunshot.

The Sentra then ran into two steel poles and a block wall. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene from a shotgun wound to his upper torso, officials said. Amado was treated at a hospital for leg injuries and released, police said.

On Friday, LAPD detectives from the Officer-Involved Shooting section were investigating the case and whether the four suspects were linked to at least five street robberies in the San Fernando Valley.

The three men arrested about 8:30 p.m. Thursday were booked for burglary from a motor vehicle.

No weapons were found inside their vehicle, Parino said. However, an electric stun gun was found on the ground nearby.

Those arrested were Michael Allen Soto, 20, of Chatsworth; Derrick Waddell, 18, of Chatsworth; and Leonard Cornish, 19, of Canoga Park.

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Photo: LAPD investigators examine the scene of Thursday night's shooting, in which a robbery suspect was slain by police in Chatsworth.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer