Police Use Tips in Hunt for Driver Who Killed Over Traffic Argument

Homicide investigators followed up on public tips Wednesday on cars matching the description of the one used by the killer of a La Jolla teen-ager shot in a traffic dispute,

Homicide Sgt. Ed Petrick said he and four other detectives were checking with car dealerships and private owners in search of a late model, red Isuzu Trooper.

Kurt Yokes, 15, of the 5400 block of Bahia Lane was shot once in the chest Monday by a driver angered by a near-accident with the car in which Yokes was a passenger. He was dead on arrival at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

Yokes, a freshman at Mission Bay High School and a newspaper carrier, and two older friends were driving home when the Isuzu nearly crashed into them at Grand Avenue and Bayard Street in Pacific Beach, police said. After an exchange of gestures, a friend of Yokes said to the driver of the Isuzu, “I’ve seen better driving on golf courses,” according to Petrick.

Assailant Was Stranger

“That was the only thing said, and the other guy did not say a word,” Petrick said, adding that neither Yokes nor his friends had ever met the man.

Yokes’ friends told police that the killer did not reply and followed their car to a home in the 2600 block of Christopher Street. When Yokes and a friend left their car to find out why the man had followed them, the killer fired the fatal shot, police said.

Two friends with Yokes in the vehicle, the 18-year-old woman driver and a 19-year-old man, were not identified for safety reasons.

The suspect is described as a slender Asian man with black hair that reaches shoulder length in the back but is short in front. Police said he wore a white, button-down shirt and a black tie, leading them to suspect he may have been a customer or an employee of one of the many nightclubs in the area.

The Isuzu was dirty and also carried a roof rack. It has not been reported stolen, according to the police.

“Somebody knows who this person is,” Petrick said. “They may not know it yet, but someone should be able to help us.”