Police Arrest 2 in Carjacking in North Hills : Robbery: Officers called to the scene of the incident say the suspects fired upon them.

Two men who fired a shotgun at Los Angeles police officers after a carjacking in North Hills were arrested after a short chase early Monday, authorities said.

No one was injured in the 2 a.m. incident, which police said was part of what appears to be a spate of San Fernando Valley carjackings--robberies in which cars are stolen from their owners at gunpoint.

Police in the Valley are investigating more than a dozen carjackings that have occurred this month. Two notable cases that occurred Oct. 31 included a Reseda carjacking in which police shot and wounded a suspect, and the shooting death of a popular owner of an apartment building on Blythe Street in Panorama City in a failed carjacking attempt.

In Monday’s incident, Miguel Diaz Gonzalez, 26, of Pacoima, and Enrique Escobar, 19, of North Hills, were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, robbery and grand theft auto, police said.

Police said the pair used a shotgun to take a 1977 Ford Maverick from Robert Meisner, 36, in the 15600 block of Nordhoff Street. While Meisner was giving police a report on the robbery, the alleged robbers inexplicably drove by on Nordhoff.

“The victim said, ‘I think that’s my car,’ and the chase followed,” Los Angeles Police Detective Robert Haro said.

As the Maverick sped away, one of the two men pointed the shotgun back at the officers and fired once from about 100 feet away, Lt. Kyle Jackson said. The blast missed the officers, who did not return fire.

The pair abandoned the car near Plummer Street and Orion Avenue and fled on foot, discarding the shotgun, police said. They were quickly arrested and the shotgun was recovered.

Police said that while it appears that carjackings are on the rise it is difficult to gauge how much so because statistically they are classified as robberies.

“It’s a crime that’s becoming prevalent all over,” Haro said. “It’s almost like a fad.”

Carjackings are not new but have received intense media attention in recent months, largely because of cases that have ended in deaths of motorists and the passage of a law last month that makes carjacking a federal crime.

Some police officials speculated that media attention to such robberies may in part have led to perpetuating copycat-type crimes. Officers likened the situation to the spate of shootings on Los Angeles freeways five years ago that received widespread media attention, which may have helped perpetuate them.

“It would seem that we are getting more carjacking thefts,” Valley Bureau Cmdr. Rick Dinse said. “I’m not sure that might not be because of the media attention it is getting.”

Detective Mel Arnold, who has taken nine carjacking reports in the Van Nuys area in the last 10 days, agreed.

“I firmly believe that the recent upsurge is due to the publicity,” he said. “The bad guys are saying, ‘Hey, this looks like a good idea.’ ”

The frequency of carjackings appears to be low compared to other robberies and car thefts, police said. For example, Detective Rick Jamieson, who investigates robberies in the North Hollywood Division, said only two of 65 robberies in the area this month have been carjackings.

President Bush signed a bill Oct. 25 making carjackings a federal crime. Under the law, a carjacking ending in death could result in a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The federal law, which became effective Oct. 27, has not yet been used by federal prosecutors.

In Monday’s incident, Jackson noted that because the two men already face multiple state charges including attempted murder, it is unlikely the case will be referred to federal prosecutors.

Regarding the Oct. 31 killing of Donald Aragon on Blythe Street during an attempted carjacking, detectives expressed frustration last week that the federal government did not appear interested in prosecuting that case.