Traffic Error May Have Cost Motorist His Life

A motorist shot to death on the Harbor Freeway on Monday may have been killed over a breach of traffic etiquette, Los Angeles police said Tuesday.

After interviewing witnesses who came forward Tuesday, investigators said Baltazar Bustamante Ayala, 29, was shot after cutting in front of the assailant’s car in 55-m.p.h. commuter traffic.

“It seems to have been one of those automobile confrontations--one of those anger things,” said South Bureau Homicide Detective Larry Kallestad. “It was a cut-off thing, probably.”

As investigators fielded more than two dozen calls about the shooting, four of Bustamante’s brothers met somberly at the South Los Angeles apartment that the slain restaurant manager had shared with his fiance, Sylvia Sandoval.

“He was a hard-working man, and look what has happened,” said Sandoval, as she sat on her bed and gazed at a wall crowded with photos of her and Bustamante.

She said they were planning to visit his mother in Calvario, in the central Mexican state of Guerrero where Bustamante grew up. The two were to be wed at a family reunion there this December.

Instead, the family is planning a funeral, Sandoval said.

“I didn’t know what to say to my mother,” said one of the victim’s brothers, Dimas Bustamante. “She was expecting him to come home.”

The family has sent word of Bustamante’s death to his mother, but it is unlikely she can attend a funeral in Los Angeles, Dimas Bustamante said.

“She doesn’t have a passport . . . no visa papers, and I’m afraid the expense will be too much,” he said.

Baltazar Bustamante, who immigrated to Los Angeles in 1976, lived in an apartment building in the USC area. The four brothers and their families live in adjacent units in the same building.

Bustamante’s life revolved around his family, his work and favorite pastime--lifting weights at a local gym, his family and friends said.

“He always wanted to be strong,” Sandoval said.

The victim was on his way to work at Steven’s Burgers No. 4 in Carson, where he was manager and cook--when he was shot on the Harbor Freeway just north of Imperial Highway. He was driving his fiancee’s red Pontiac Fiero sports car.

According to witnesses, a yellow Pontiac Trans Am with a black top was driving alongside Bustamante’s car when a bullet shattered the driver’s window and struck Bustamante just below the left ear. Another bullet pierced the Fiero’s window frame. Two men in the Trans Am were being sought by police.

Detectives have received numerous calls about the shooting, Kallestad said. “Some are from people who were on the freeway,” he said. “Some have been sightings of cars” that match the description of the Pontiac.

“We are investigating the hottest leads first,” he said.

Although investigators declined to release further details of witnesses’ accounts, Kallestad said the victim probably was not actively engaged in a dispute.

“We have no indication that there was any provocation from the victim,” the detective said.

For Bustamante, Monday began like any other, his fiancee said. He woke up about 4 a.m. and was due at work at the restaurant in Carson at 5.

“He liked getting up in the early hours,” Sandoval said. “He was very conscientious about it, because they depended on him at the restaurant.”

His brother Alejandrino Bustamante, 27, said he used to drive to work every morning with Baltazar, taking the same route on which his brother was slain. The brothers had worked together until a month ago, when Alejandrino found another job.

“I still can’t believe I’ve lost a brother over something like this,” Alejandrino Bustamante said.

At Steven’s Burgers, where employees said Bustamante cooked, handled the stock orders and “did everything,” the manager’s office in the back of the restaurant stood empty on Tuesday.

Teresa Robles, 25, who inherited part of Bustamante’s duties, took stock in the refrigerator and scribbled numbers in Bustamante’s spiral notebook.

“People around here have known him for a long time,” Robles said in Spanish. “A lot of the customers are asking about him.”

Adan Jimenez-Garcia, 36, said he watched as Bustamante rose from cook to restaurant manager. “He was promoted because of his abilities,” Jimenez said. “He knew everything about the restaurant. And he got along with everyone.”

Dimas Bustamante, 33, said that because his brother was not prone to confrontations, the shooting was all the more disconcerting.

“He wasn’t an argumentative person,” he said.

Co-workers echoed the sentiments of Bustamante’s family.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Robles said.