Man Who Died in Police Shootings Was Robbery Suspect : Crime: Authorities say the car driven by Daniel Kozelka had been used in a holdup. One of the officers is released from a hospital.

A man who shot and wounded two Los Angeles police officers Sunday night before dying in a hail of gunfire had been released from an Ohio jail last month and was a suspect in a recent armed robbery in Glendale, authorities said Monday.

Daniel Kozelka, a 35-year-old native of Parma Heights in suburban Cleveland, left his home state Jan. 19 after assaulting his father, Los Angeles Police Lt. William Hall said. Kozelka had been released from jail Jan. 18 on a felonious assault charge, Hall said.

The incident began about 7 p.m. Sunday when Officers Jon Hurd and Richard Householder stopped Kozelka in North Hollywood after he ran a stop sign on Vineland Avenue near Burbank Boulevard.

Alerted by computer that the black 1983 Ford Fairmont Kozelka was driving might have been used in a recent gas station holdup, the two officers ordered Kozelka to get out of the car with his hands above his head. Hurd was about to search him when Kozelka reached for his waistband, pulled out a .44-caliber revolver and began firing, Hall said.

Both officers were hit twice before they were able to return fire but were apparently saved by their bulletproof vests, Hall said.

Hurd, 28, was hit twice in the chest, with one bullet hitting the edge of his vest. He was released Monday from Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. Householder, 31, was hit once in the arm and once in the back. He is in stable condition at Holy Cross and is expected to be released in a day or two.

Both are expected to fully recover from their injuries, Hall said.

Kozelka, described by Hall as the divorced father of a 14-year-old girl, died shortly after arriving at Medical Center of North Hollywood. He was hit with bullets once in each leg and in the head, Hall said.

The two patrolmen fired 41 rounds, reloading their 9-millimeter service revolvers while wounded.

Hall, who supervises the department’s officer-involved shooting section, said the patrolmen’s procedures still had to be assessed because neither had been interviewed yet. Hurd has three years on the force and Householder two years, but Hall said it was too soon to determine whether inexperience was a factor.

By ordering Kozelka out of his car, the patrolmen were following the standard procedure prescribed when stopping a potentially dangerous suspect.

“Apparently, he cooperated fully and only when Hurd approached him to conduct a cursory search the guy made his quick movement,” Hall said.

Chet Spencer, commander of police operations for the San Fernando Valley, said, “Based on a preliminary review of the circumstances, they acted professionally.” He said the officers’ lack of experience apparently was not a factor in the shooting.

“I don’t see where the officers could have done anything different,” Spencer said.

A coroner’s spokesman said it was unlikely that an autopsy on Kozelka would be performed for a few days until all the victims of Friday’s plane collision at Los Angeles International Airport are identified.

Confirmation of Kozelka’s identity was made more difficult because a license plate number jotted down near the scene of the gas station robbery last month was assumed to be that of a California-registered vehicle.

Kozelka’s license plate bore the same number as those reported in Glendale but was from Ohio, which also issues white license plates. A check of both states’ registrations revealed no such current number in California, whose license plates now carry seven digits. Hall, meanwhile, said there were enough similarities to conclude that it was the same man.

About $300 was taken at gunpoint from the Mobil service station. An attendant chased the thief, who wore a ski mask, about half a mile through an alley but returned to the station and dialed 911 after he was fired upon, Glendale Police Sgt. Russ Pierce said.