VAN NUYS : Friend of Slaying Victim Testifies

In a decision that cost his life, a Woodland Hills man quickly moved to chase three teen-agers who ran out of an Encino convenience store with stolen beer, a friend of the man testified Wednesday.

Rocco Pugliese, called as a witness in the murder trial of a Van Nuys gang member, testified that his friend said “Let’s go” after the trio ran out of a 7-Eleven store and he saw the clerk inside throw up his arm.

Christopher L. Brown, 24, led the chase that ended when he was fatally wounded by one of the thieves--a 14-year-old boy armed with a .22-caliber handgun.

A jury is hearing evidence this week in Van Nuys Superior Court against Jose M. Murillo, one of the trio who went on a “beer run” at the store near the intersection of Burbank Boulevard and White Oak Avenue.

Prosecutors have charged Murillo with first-degree murder because he allegedly supplied the killer with the handgun and then urged the boy to shoot Brown as he caught up with them.

If convicted, Murillo would face a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Pugliese testified that he heard the gunshot and ran over to see his friend in the yard of a house across the street from the 7-Eleven. “He looked like he was in shock,” Pugliese testified.

Pugliese applied pressure to the wound, but the bullet caused internal injuries that led to Brown’s death.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels also played for the jury a tape-recording of a police interview with Murillo in which he admits that he told the juvenile to fire the gun.

“I told him, ‘shoot,’ but I had already told him (to) shoot in the air,” Murillo says on the tape. “I’m all, ‘Never shoot at someone.’ ”

In the interview, Murillo told police that the juvenile’s attitude about the gun was “just shoot ‘em,” according to authorities.

A girl involved in the beer theft testified Tuesday that the juvenile expressed regrets about shooting Brown in the chest. “He said that he should have shot him in the head instead,” Mirna Gomez, 16, of Panorama City testified about the juvenile.