Police Say Gunman Posing as Officer May Also Have Stopped Motorist : Law enforcement: Authorities are investigating the shooting of a couple near Santa Susana Pass Road and the case of a woman pulled over in Reseda.

Investigators said Thursday that a gunman who posed as a police officer and shot a young couple in Chatsworth last weekend bears a strong resemblance to a phony officer who pulled a woman over for an alleged traffic violation in Reseda two weeks earlier.

The woman was not injured in the earlier incident, but Los Angeles police said the cases have similarities, and they are attempting to determine if there have been any other incidents in the area involving a man passing himself off as a police officer.

The investigation has grown out of the Saturday night shootings of Rosa Alexandra Trillos, 21, of Canoga Park and Gaspar Sanchez-Contreras, 24, of Sun Valley. The shootings occurred in a parking area off Santa Susana Pass Road. Sanchez-Contreras, who was shot in the chest, remains hospitalized in stable condition while Trillos, who was shot three times, was released from the hospital this week.

The two friends were sitting in a car about 9:30 p.m., looking at the view of the San Fernando Valley, when a man approached with a gun, said he was a police officer and asked, “Do you know you can get a ticket for parking here?” He then ordered them out of the car.

As they stepped out, the gunman fired once, hitting Sanchez-Contreras, police said. Trillos started to run but was then shot in the back. The gunman shot her twice more in the upper body, including once when she was already down on the ground. Sanchez-Contreras then grabbed the gunman and while they struggled, Trillos got up and ran into the road to flag down a passing car, police said.

The gunman, who was not wearing a police uniform, then fled on foot into a nearby wooded area. The driver of the passing car saw Trillos and drove to Topanga Canyon Boulevard to call police. Trillos and Sanchez-Contreras, fearing that the gunman might come back, drove their car to Topanga Canyon Boulevard as well, where they were met by ambulances.

Police said they have no suspects and were seeking members of the public who were in the area and may have seen something that will help investigators.

“The attack was unprovoked,” Lt. Kyle Jackson said.

Police said the shooting may be linked to an April 29 incident in which a woman driving on the Simi Valley Freeway pulled her car to the shoulder when a man in another car flashed a red light at her and signaled her over. The man, who was wearing a uniform of some sort, showed the woman a badge and then lectured her for speeding after asking for her license and writing information from it down on a pad.

He then allowed the woman to proceed. She immediately contacted police because the man’s uniform was not like a police uniform and his manner led her to believe that he was not a real officer.

Police said the descriptions of the suspect in both cases are similar: a white man in his 20s who is slightly built with light brown hair.

Detective Tom Broad said that although reports of people impersonating officers are fairly common, police are particularly concerned in these cases because the motives weren’t robbery.

“What we are working on is that the motive is murder,” Broad said of the shooting case. “It’s a lot easier to understand someone who says ‘I’m a cop’ and then steals your car. When he says he’s a police officer and shoots you, it’s a whole different connotation.”