1 Dead, Officer Hit in Salon Shootout : Holdup: Several shots fired in gun battle inside Huntington Beach shop. Bulletproof vest likely saved policeman’s life.

A police officer responding to a 911 call interrupted a holdup at a Huntington Beach beauty salon Friday afternoon, triggering a shootout inside the shop that left the gunman dead and the officer wounded, police said.

Four shots struck the officer’s bulletproof vest during the close-range gun battle at the Green Tree Salon, Huntington Beach police Sgt. Janet Perez said.

As the two men fired handguns at each other from 15 to 20 feet, two other bullets struck the officer’s arm, she said. The robber, whose name had not been released late Friday, was hit “multiple times” and was pronounced dead at the scene after 3:30 p.m., she said.

Meanwhile, the officer, whose identity also was not released, was rushed to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was treated for a fracture to his left arm just above the elbow. He also had bruises on his right shoulder and his abdomen from the bullets that struck his vest, hospital spokeswoman Kim Pine said.

The officer did not know that a robbery was in progress when he walked into the salon, Perez said. Fifteen minutes earlier, a dispatcher had received a call to police from someone at the shop who immediately hung up, she said.

The dispatcher heard some voices and guessed that there was a disturbance, Perez said. The dispatcher called back but got only an answering machine.

“We automatically dispatch officers in that kind of situation,” Perez said.

The robbery was in progress when the officer arrived, she said. Three other people were inside the salon, but none was injured.

“It appears that everything was confined to the scene,” Perez said.

A second officer arrived as the wounded officer stumbled, bleeding, into the parking lot, Perez said. Paramedics arrived moments later.

The officer’s department-issued vest “may have saved his life,” she said.

The sound of gunfire from the salon shattered the tranquillity of the small shopping center along Hamilton Avenue and shocked nearby residents.

“I heard ‘pop, pop, pop,’ ” said Saundra McPherson, who was sitting down to watch television when the gunfire erupted. “Not in a million years did I think it would be shots.”

Bob Deck, who said he has lived a block from the salon for more than two decades, said, “I can’t recall any other incidents here except car accidents. It’s really a quiet neighborhood.”