In Suspect’s Room--Paltry Belongings, Ominous Notes : Investigation: Police say they found writings that show premeditation. Hotel residents and staff say Damacio Ybarra Torres was quiet and never caused trouble.

Inside Room 432 at the Ford Hotel on the fringes of Skid Row is a tall metal locker decorated with souvenir emblems. Damacio Ybarra Torres, it seems, was a fan of the Los Angeles Raiders, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Operation Desert Storm. Another sticker proudly declares: “I’m the NRA.”

It was in this tiny room with a view of the Salvation Army offices and the towers of high finance beyond that Torres, 40, apparently laid out his plans to wage a one-man war on Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Los Angeles police said Tuesday.

“Written evidence” recovered Monday night in a search of Torres’ $260-per-month home shows the “very premeditated” nature of the heavily armed assault, said Lt. John Ferguson of the Los Angeles Police Department.

KCAL Channel 9 reported that police found a note in Torres’ room that said “I am dying. No one seems to care.” With it was a list titled “things to remember.” Among the chores listed were “take knife,” “burn pictures” and “write a note on the mirror.”

Today, Torres is scheduled to be arraigned on three counts of attempted murder and two counts of kidnaping in the five-hour siege that left three doctors in critical condition and two hostages trying to recover from their ordeal.

Detectives John Spreitzer and Martha Rodriguez said Torres, whom they described as cooperative and coherent, said he wanted to exact revenge against a medical establishment that he accused of negligent treatment. He did not know his victims and did not ask about their conditions, police said.

Torres was described as an enigmatic man who, before Monday, lived quietly on society’s fringe. He apparently had no job, never served in the military and had no criminal record, police said. Although upon his arrest he told officers he had AIDS, the remark was made “very flippantly,” said police Lt. Tom Lorenzen, who commanded the SWAT team.

Neither police nor hospital officials, citing patient confidentiality, would disclose his condition. But Sol Bernstein, a county health official, said records showed that Torres had visited the hospital at least three previous times for what Bernstein described as “minor ailments.” The first visit was five years ago, and the others were last May and August.

During the hostage crisis, Lorenzen said, Torres had indicated he was also angry about the long waits for attention on his hospital visits. According to Lorenzen, part of Torres’ message during phone conversations with police was: “It’s their turn to wait. They made me wait. I’m going to make them wait.”

Although Torres declared himself “a victim of a medical conspiracy” in a brief encounter with a TV camera Monday night, Spreitzer and Rodriguez said he did not allege any such conspiracy in their discussions with him. Workers at the Ford Hotel suggested that Torres may have been affected by a friend’s death last summer, but police said Torres made no mention of the friend. Attempts to determine whether he was a member of the National Rifle Assn., or just had some of their stickers, were unsuccessful Tuesday.

However murky Torres’ character, survivalist is a label that may fit.

Both the .380-caliber automatic pistol and the .44-caliber revolver seized upon Torres’ surrender were properly registered in his name, police said. There is no law requiring registration of a third firearm, a .44-caliber rifle, or his fourth weapon, a 10-inch Marine Corps knife.

Among the artifacts taken from his room as evidence were a gas mask, a German helmet and manuals titled “Boobytrap” and “Survival.” The items, Ferguson said, reflect what “his state of mind, his state of preparedness” might have been. Among the items in his room were camouflage clothing and three pairs of military boots, one pair shined to a parade gloss finish.

“The fact that he is or isn’t a survivalist is a judgment,” Ferguson said. “There are some things we obtained that would indicate he was.”

Room rates at the Ford Hotel start at $15 a night, tenants share common toilets and a sign in the lobby declares “No Trespassing, No Drugs, No Drug Dealers, No Loitering, No Weapons, No Prostitution.” It had been Torres’ home for at least five years, said clerk Connie Ali.

People who work and live at the Ford said they were surprised when they learned that Torres had been arrested in the hospital shootings. In a part of town known for high crime, drug dealing and a prevalence of mentally disturbed people, Torres was described as a quiet man who kept to himself and never demonstrated hostility.

“He never hung around anybody,” said resident Suzanne Garcia, 22. “If anybody said ‘Hi,’ he’d say ‘Hi’ back.”

Dolores Moncilla, a 37-year-old maid, said she considered Torres “a good man. We never see him angry. Everyday he is good. I don’t know what happened.” She said that Torres told her he was on welfare.

Moncilla and others recalled that Torres had been friendly with another longtime resident named Sylvester Lopez, who became sick a few months ago. Ali said Lopez died at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Long Beach.

Torres, according to Moncilla, was a neat man who kept his room clean and orderly. On Tuesday, his quarters had been left disheveled by the police search. In the room were such items as binoculars, a small telescope and the memoirs of Gen. George Custer’s widow. On a dresser was a cigarette lighter shaped like a tiny hand grenade, and on the floor was a sign that said “No Bozos Allowed.”

In recent weeks, Torres had gone through visible changes. He used to wear his hair long, to the middle of his back, Ali said. But about two months ago, he shaved his head.

Torres, who was born in Texas on Christmas Eve, 1952, apparently had no family in the Los Angeles area. Estela Rivas, a sister who lives in the south Texas city of San Benito, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that she had not seen her brother since he left 12 years ago, shortly after their mother’s funeral.

Rivas had a photograph dated October, 1974, that showed Damacio as a young man with long, dark hair, a beard and a mustache. On the back was the phrase “El Hippie.” She described him as a dedicated but unemployed musician when he left the small town in the Brownsville area. He had an even temper and had not been in trouble with the law, she said.

“My mother was a Catholic woman. She brought us up right,” Rivas said. “I just can’t think what came over him.”

Rivas expressed sorrow for the victims. She said she wants to visit her brother but has no money for the trip.

“I would just like to hug him and hold him and tell him I’ll be there for moral support,” she said. “Just to tell him that I love him.”

Times staff writers Miles Corwin and Hector Tobar contributed to this story.