Officer Hurt in Shootout Recalls Hail of Fire

Like many of his colleagues, North Hollywood Det. William “John” Krulac lives in the relatively safe confines of Ventura County, commuting to his job as an officer for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Nursing a wounded ankle at home in Thousand Oaks on Saturday, the 49-year-old Krulac recalled the blizzard of gunfire that wounded him and three colleagues a day earlier in a shootout with two heavily armed and armored bank robbers in North Hollywood.

Krulac, who served a tour in Vietnam in the 1960s and who bounced around the Los Angeles Police Department for 27 years before becoming a detective in the North Hollywood Division three years ago, is only three years from retirement.

When Krulac arrived at the shootout Friday, the sound of automatic gunfire brought back memories of Vietnam. He knew this was much worse than any other call he’d ever responded to.

“I just think it was a miracle none of us were killed,” he said, sitting at his dining room table Saturday, surrounded by a handful of friends and family--including his wife, Linda, and their 4-year-old daughter, Jillian. “What else can you say?”

Krulac and partner, Tracey Angeles, arrived at the shooting scene shortly before 10 a.m., minutes after the first patrol officers to arrive at the Bank of America branch broadcast a help request.

As they drove into a barrage of gunfire, the two detectives immediately hit the deck, ducking behind a shed in the middle of the Thrifty plaza parking lot, along with Officers Stuart Guy and James Zboravan.

Guy was hit first, a bullet shattering his femur. Angeles then took a ricochet round that wounded her buttocks.

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Zboravan, a rookie still on training probation under Guy’s tutelage and the only one wearing a bulletproof vest, jumped atop Angeles and Krulac, trying to shield them.

“I realized this could be the last time,” Krulac said. “This could be the end. I yelled, ‘We’ve got to fall back, we’re in the kill zone!’

“We were still catching rounds coming right through the building,” Krulac said.

A few minutes later, the four made a break west across the parking lot, splitting up, zigzagging between cars in a shower of shattered glass, and dodging slicks from punctured oil pans.

“It was like a scene out of the movies,” Krulac said. “The rounds are bouncing under the car, radiators are being blown out, tires are going flat.”

Krulac and Zboravan ducked behind a car.

“James started yelling, ‘I’m hit,’ ” Krulac said. Just then, a bullet smashed into Krulac’s ankle, the impact throwing his leg behind him.

They looked around for better cover and spotted a dentist’s office, where the shattered glass doors still hung in the frames in brittle sheets.

“I asked him if he could run, and he said, ‘No problem.’ ” Krulac said.

“I told him, ‘On the count of three, we’re going,’ ” Krulac said. “I told him, ‘We’re going right through those doors.’ ” And they broke and ran, flinging their bodies through the curtain of shattered glass.

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Inside, Krulac said, Zboravan continued to yell, “I’m hit, I’m hit.” Krulac and the dentist, Dr. Jorge Montes, got his gun belt off and found a 6-inch-long, 2-inch-wide flesh wound along Zboravan’s flank.

Meanwhile, Angeles and another officer hustled Guy into a patrol car that backed away from the gunfire across the parking lot. Guy and Angeles were driven to the Vanowen command post and transferred to ambulances for the ride to a nearby hospital.

As the gun battle raged on, a patrol car pulled up behind Montes’ office and spirited Krulac and Zboravan away to the ambulances at the command post near Vanowen Street and Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

Krulac went to Valley Presbyterian Hospital, where doctors decided that the bullet could be left in place.

On Saturday, under doctor’s orders to watch out for infection, Krulac answered phone calls and visited with friends and family, hoping he could be back at work within the week.

He has lived in his quiet Thousand Oaks neighborhood for 16 years. The city appeals to him, he said, because the community is quiet and peaceful, with friendly neighbors and a low crime rate.

Linda Krulac, who was at the grocery store when the shootout began, said she had heard shoppers talking about the carnage and headed for home. By the time she arrived, there was a message on the answering machine saying that her husband was safe at the hospital.

Later, she told Jillian that her father had been hurt, but not badly. “I want to hug him,” Jillian responded.

John Krulac, sitting with Jillian on his lap much of the day Saturday, was counting his blessings: “There was a guardian angel up there.”

MAIN COVERAGE

Authorities have identified two masked riflemen who were killed after laying siege to a North Hollywood neighborhood Friday. A1, A26