RIOT AFTERMATH: GETTING BACK TO BUSINESS : Death Tied to Guardsmen Investigated : Unrest: Authorities say man in car twice attempted to run down soldiers before they opened fire, apparently in self-defense.

Homicide detectives from the Rampart Division of the Los Angeles Police Department have launched an investigation into a shooting that left a man dead at the hands of the National Guard, Mayor Tom Bradley said Monday.

That incident and one other on Sunday ended more than three days of peace for the Guard, which until then had not fired a shot since it arrived Thursday afternoon and took up positions in some of the most badly ravaged areas of Los Angeles.

Early Sunday, a guardsman broke up a dispute between a hit-and-run motorist and his victim, firing one shot in the process. No one was hurt, and that incident is not under investigation, authorities said.

But the fatal shooting Sunday evening was referred to police by city officials, who wanted to resolve any questions quickly so that the incident does not provoke a backlash in the communities where troops are based.

At a morning news conference, Bradley said the guardsmen had fired shots only after a driver made several attempts to run them down. “No one knows why he did it,” Bradley said of the driver.

Residents across the city have welcomed the Guard members, who have secured shopping areas and other buildings at the request of the Police Department.

With the curfew lifted Monday night--and the Guard playing a key role in protecting against new outbreaks of violence--city officials said they wanted to see that the shooting was investigated as quickly as possible.

“We want this taken care of completely, thoroughly and immediately,” said an official in Bradley’s office. “That’s why the mayor asked LAPD to open an investigation right away.”

Police released few details of the investigation, but one officer said preliminary signs suggest that the guardsmen were within their rights to fire on the man. That view was echoed by National Guard Master Sgt. George Olsen, who was on the street Sunday night and who talked to investigators shortly after the shooting.

“They seemed to feel that everything was handled pretty well,” Olsen said. “It was one of those things that’s impossible to avoid.”

The shooting victim’s identification was withheld pending notification of his relatives. He was described as in his early 30s and was carrying no identification.

According to police, the incident began just after sunset on Sunday. A three-man contingent of guardsmen was posted along a stretch of Pico Boulevard, between New Hampshire and Vermont avenues, when a dark-colored Datsun 280Z approached.

The curfew was in effect, and people had been asked to stay off the streets.

When one of the guardsmen ordered the man to stop, he accelerated and drove straight for the trio, authorities said.

“The (guardsman) jumped out of the path of the oncoming vehicle,” according to the police report. The driver then hit the brakes and wheeled his car around, according to the report. When the guardsman ordered the driver out of his car, the driver refused and sped toward the guardsman again, the report said.

“The (guardsman) jumped out of the way, but the (driver) was able to strike the (guardsman’s) right leg,” according to the report. The guardsman was not injured.

The driver left the scene at that point, and the guardsman who was hit thought the incident was over. But when the driver returned a few minutes later, again ignoring demands that he stop, two of the soldiers fired their M-16 semiautomatic weapons into his car, authorities said.

Fourteen shots were fired and the driver was struck twice, once in the back of the head and once in the arm. He was taken to California Hospital Medical Center, where he died two hours later.

The Police Department is investigating the incident as an attempted murder of the guardsman, which resulted in the shooting death of the driver.

In addition to the police investigation, the military has launched its own investigation of the incident to determine whether the guardsmen acted in accordance with the military’s rules of engagement, which dictate that guardsmen are allowed to fire their weapons if their lives or if the lives of other people are in danger.

Military officials said Monday that guardsmen and other military troops on patrol in the Los Angeles riots “have the inherent right to self-defense.”

Guardsmen in the riot zone carry M-16s with loaded magazines. To reduce chances of accidental shootings, however, they do not put a bullet in the chambers of their guns unless trouble is considered imminent.

The military investigation is expected to last several days, but one Guard officer who is part of the investigating team said it appeared the incident was “a clean shooting.”

In Washington, a Defense Department official familiar with the incident agreed, calling the shooting a “pretty clear-cut case” of self-defense.

As the investigations continue, the main fear by Guard officials was that the incident could make their troops unwelcome in the devastated communities of South Los Angeles, where the Guard’s presence is most noticeable.

There seemed few signs of that Monday morning, however, as guardsmen at one Vermont Avenue shopping center sipped coffee and munched on cookies given to them by local residents and store owners.

Elsewhere, residents clapped and waved at passing National Guard armored vehicles, as they have since the guardsmen arrived.

“We don’t think this will cause any problems, but who knows?” Olsen said. “That’s what we can’t have.”

Times staff writer Melissa Healy in Washington contributed to this story.