Fatal Bullet Puts End to Immigrant’s Aspirations

Like thousands of Mexican immigrants before him, Eduardo Salazar had come to the United States to better himself, to earn more money and help a family he left behind.

Studying English by day, Salazar worked nights as a baggage handler at the downtown Greyhound bus station and lived in a working-class community in Highland Park at an apartment complex with a locked security gate, a concession to the threat of urban crime.

But in his two years in this country, the 26-year-old Salazar had been untouched by violence--until this week when he was shot on a darkened sidewalk only a few blocks from his home. Robbed, beaten and left to die, Salazar was apparently attacked because his assailants felt he did not pull off the rings from his fingers fast enough.

“They apparently got upset that the rings wouldn’t come off, so they kicked him and they shot him,” said Detective Sam Jacobellis of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Salazar died Thursday, two days after he was attacked in the 200 block of North Avenue 54 as he walked to a nearby market.

Two 17-year-old youths, who were described by police as known gang members, were arrested Tuesday night within an hour of the shooting. Police pulled over their car a short distance from the shooting scene and found a gun in the vehicle, Jacobellis said.

The suspects, who are being held at Eastlake Juvenile Hall, were not identified because of their ages. They face possible murder charges, Jacobellis said.

Jacobellis said the two youths had apparently approached Salazar on the sidewalk and demanded his wallet and jewelry. Salazar handed over the wallet, the detective said, but when the immigrant had trouble pulling several rings from his fingers, the suspects attacked him.

Nearby residents said the attack occurred in a block without street lights, which has made the area a menacing place to walk after dark.

One resident, who asked not to be identified, recalled that he had just walked into his house after dusk on Tuesday when he heard several gunshots and saw someone sprawled across the street and sidewalk.

After calling authorities for help, the resident said he ran outside to find Salazar lying on the pavement, badly wounded and struggling to talk.

“He said: ‘Somebody was trying to rob me, but I don’t have nothing,’ ” the resident said. Salazar died at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena from a gunshot wound to the head. Police said Salazar had no gang affiliation.

His younger brother, who shares the Highland Park apartment, said that neither one of them had encountered any previous crime problems and had never before been accosted by gang members.

“He was a very good brother,” Francisco Salazar said. “All he did was work and study. He was a good worker. He tried to learn English, and he wanted to go back to Mexico and help our family.”

Salazar said that he now intends to take his brother’s body back to their hometown of Mazatlan, where their parents and five brothers still reside. A sister also lives in Los Angeles, he said.

The most difficult part of the journey, Salazar said, will be explaining to his parents--both of whom are ill and under a doctor’s care--that their son is dead.

“They have heart trouble, so I couldn’t tell them over the phone,” Salazar said. “Now, I have to tell them when I come with his body. It’s going to be very hard, and I just worry how they’re going to take it.”

He paused. “Then, they’re going to want to know why. That’s what we all want to know.”