RIVERSIDE —— A ferocious gunbattle was detailed for jurors Wednesday by a Murrieta police officer who was shot in the leg during the October 2001 confrontation. Cpl. Steve Lang described seeing various colors flash from the gun's muzzle as the man he was chasing on usually quiet Dartanian Place turned and fired at him from about 5 or 6 feet away.

"I couldn't believe this guy's shooting at me," Lang said, adding that he quickly returned fire with his first shot coming about the same time the man fired his second.

"He's shooting, I'm shooting," Lang said. "I could tell I was hitting him. I knew I was hitting him."

The man accused of exchanging gunfire with the veteran officer was Toan Quoc Van, who is among four alleged Asian gang members standing trial on charges that could send them to prison for life should they be convicted.

Van, 30, of Santa Ana, along with Giang Kien Huynh, 32, of El Monte; Khoi Van Phan, 28, of Hollywood; and Nelson Wynn, 35, of San Gabriel, face charges that include conspiracy to rob an inhabited dwelling and attempted murder of a peace officer.

The four men are accused of attempting a home-invasion robbery at a residence on Bayonne Place, a cul-de-sac next to the one where Lang and Van traded shots.

Prosecutors also allege that Huynh fired at a second Murrieta officer, John Nelson, but neither man was hit.

A 911 call from a couple on Dartanian Place around 2 a.m. Oct. 5, 2001, brought police officers to the neighborhood and quashed the robbery before it could happen, prosecutors say.

The wife testified Tuesday that she became suspicious after seeing a group of men show up on her street in two vehicles with no headlights on, then walk around the corner toward Bayonne Place.

Two of the men were quickly detained as the first officers arrived minutes after the 911 call and Lang stayed on Dartanian Place to guard them as three other officers went to check for more suspects.

A short time later, a man running from the officers on Bayonne jumped a fence and ran toward Lang. Lang said he started chasing the man, later identified as Van. Lang told jurors the man had his right hand in his front waistband area as he fled.

"I remember thinking this guy's trying to make me think he's got a gun," Lang said, later adding that he didn't believe he actually had a weapon.

The man turned and fired, according to Lang's testimony. Lang said he fired about a dozen shots from his .45-caliber semiautomatic weapon during the exchange with Van.

"I wanted to get as many rounds off at this person to get him to stop shooting me," he said.

Lang said as the shooting started, many things ran through his mind.

"I was thinking this is a bad place to be, standing right in front of him," he said. "I was wondering if it was going to hurt."

Lang told jurors he figured he was going to be hit by a bullet since the two were so close and he had nothing to hide behind. So he dove to the ground, still firing at Van, he said.

"I thought if I stayed there, I'd be killed," Lang told jurors.

Knowing he was firing over and over again at the man, Lang said, "It was amazing to me he wasn't going down. At some point, he started to wither and go to the ground."

It was then that Lang says he was hit by a shot. The bullet entered, then exited his right inner thigh about four inches above his knee. Lang described the pain as being like someone taking a red-hot fireplace poker and sticking it through his leg.

He saw blood from his leg running down the driveway where was laid and he wondered how badly he'd been hit. As he lay there, shot, Lang said he started screaming

Supervising Deputy District Attorney John Monterosso asked him what he was screaming.

"About every profanity I can think of," Lang said, which brought nervous laughter from some of the jurors.

Lang testified that he thought the gunman who laid near him on the driveway was dead, but then he saw him try to raise himself up on his elbows.

"So I fired two more shots at him," Lang told jurors. Monterosso asked him to explain why he fired those last two shots.

"I was afraid he'd get back up and shoot me," Lang said, adding that he was immobile at that point because of the gunshot wound to his leg.

It was after those last two shots that Lang knew he had fired all the rounds from his weapon. He then replaced the empty magazine with a fresh one. Lang estimates it was about five to 10 seconds from the time the shooting started to when both he and Van were on the ground and the gunfire had ended.

Lang recalled, as he lay there shot, how quiet it was. It had been a "loud, pretty vicious gun fight," he said.

"Not a light came on. It was dead quiet in that cul-de-sac," he said.

Lang said he then radioed to his dispatch that he had been shot and that the suspect was presumably dead. The prosecutor asked him if he recognized the man who shot him as being in the courtroom Wednesday. He glanced toward the four men sitting in a line and identified Van.

Van craned his neck to see photographs taken in a hospital emergency room showing the damage to Lang's leg as the prosecutor asked Lang about the injury.

Lang said he still has no feeling in his leg from above the knee to his ankle and told jurors he was unable to work for about six weeks, spending about a month of that time on crutches.

During his questioning of Lang, Van's attorney, John Cotsirilos, had Lang demonstrate in front of the jury box how close his client and the officer were as the shooting happened. Jurors stood to get a closer look as the attorney also removed his suit jacket and laid on the courtroom floor while Lang describe how Van was laying after being shot. Lang also laid down in front of the jury box at the attorney's request to show where he was on the ground when shot in the leg.

The woman whose home was the alleged target of the robbery that morning also testified Wednesday.

Kim Tran identified defendant Nelson Wynn as a man who sold her a cellular phone on Aug. 23, 2000, at a Westminster store. She also identified a contract Monterosso showed her as the one she entered into with Page Tek for the phone. The contract listed Tran's name and business address, as well as her home and business telephone numbers.

Wynn's attorney, Virginia Blumenthal, pointed out that her home address was not on the contract, which she signed more than a year before the alleged robbery attempt. Tran testified that she and her husband had about $10,000 cash and $50,000 in jewelry at the home the night the men were arrested.

She told jurors that, being from Vietnam, she is among those who lost money in banks when Saigon fell to communism. She said she would typically keep large amounts of money and jewelry in her home instead of a bank.

Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.