Fatal Confrontation : Crime: The owner of an Oxnard convenience store shoots and kills a teen-ager during a robbery attempt.

When two ski-masked robbers barged into T. Roman Paras’ convenience store in Oxnard on Wednesday night, his wife Lida let out a scream from behind the counter.

Paras, 58, a former Navy security guard, said he knew instantly what was afoot. After all, he said, there had been two earlier robbery attempts at his store on South Ventura Road.

Paras said he grabbed a loaded .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver he keeps holstered on a corner of his desk in the back of the store. Dashing to the front of the store, he confronted the two masked robbers and they exchanged gunfire, police said.

Paras was not injured.

Oxnard police later found one of the teen-age suspects lying on the ground near a drainage ditch a few hundred yards from the store. Mark Alan Estrada, 16, of Oxnard had a chest wound and died at St. John’s Regional Medical Center a short time later, authorities said.

“I don’t see myself like Dirty Harry,” Paras said. “I don’t want to hurt nobody. I like to be a good citizen. But I would use it again to protect my family.”

A second suspect, a 17-year-old from Oxnard, was arrested Wednesday night by Oxnard police and booked on suspicion of attempted robbery. He was also booked on suspicion of homicide, because there was a fatality during the alleged crime. Since he is a juvenile, police did not release his name.

Oxnard Police Lt. Tom Cady, commander of the detective division, said investigators were not sure if Estrada was armed.

“Absolutely one was armed,” he said. Cady said detectives were awaiting results of tests for gunpowder residue to determine if both teen-agers were armed.

“Police are not contemplating any charges against the store owner at this time,” Cady said.

When informed about the shooting, La Colonia community activist Carlos Aguilera said Oxnard police should make an effort to work more closely with the area’s youth to avoid such tragedies. “What are those kids doing out there with guns?” he asked.

Aguilera also was critical of citizens who decide to shoot it out with lawbreakers. “If residents take the law into their own hands, then we’ve got a problem,” he said.

The bespectacled Paras, who emigrated from the Philippines at an early age and served as a security guard at the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Port Hueneme, said he has owned the Stop ‘N Save store on South Ventura Road for 17 years.

He has posted the following sign in his window: “Warning: Nothing Inside Is Worth Risking Your Life For. The Owners of This Property Are Armed and Highly Skilled to Protect Life, Liberty and Property From Criminal Attack.”

Paras said he would not hesitate to use a weapon again if someone fired at him or his family. “Then, I’ve got to retaliate,” he said.

But, he said, he feels remorse for the loss of a young life. “I feel bad,” he said.

Paras said he purchased his revolver about seven years ago, after a man brandishing a shotgun confronted his wife at the store’s cash register and escaped with about $100.

He now also keeps a 12-gauge shotgun beside his desk and two wooden poles near the front door for defensive purposes.

Three years ago, a man with a knife attempted to rob his wife at the store, he said. She screamed and Paras dashed out of his back-room office, chasing the would-be robber who fled without any cash, he said.

On Wednesday night, Paras was again seated at his rear-room desk when he heard his wife scream.

“They said, ‘Give us the money,’ ” Lida Paras said of the two teen-agers in ski masks. “I said, ‘Go get it.’ ”

Paras grabbed his revolver and ran to the front of the store, where he said he saw one of the youths running out the door.

“He turned around, saw me and fired a shot,” Paras said, pointing to a bullet hole in a back wall of the store. “I returned two shots.”

Both bullets missed their mark, he said.

At that point, Paras said, the second masked youth, standing between a display stand and the store’s counter, suddenly confronted him.

“I thought the second guy had a gun, I thought he had something shiny in his hand,” Paras said.

Paras said he then fired from a range of about three feet, striking the teen-ager in the chest. The young man then ran out the door with Paras in pursuit.

The other teen-ager whirled and fired at Paras from the parking lot, Paras said. He said he returned fire again. Both escaped on foot, he said.

Paras said he did what he had to do to protect his wife. “I’m not going to shoot every robber,” he said. “But if I’ve got no choice, I will.”