Stabbing Death of Homeless Man Stuns City : Investigation: The first slaying in Hermosa Beach since 1989 has prompted a communitywide effort to find the killer of Owen T. Hazlett, who was popular among many residents.

The stabbing death of a homeless man has sent a chill through Hermosa Beach, a seaside community unaccustomed to violent crime, and has sparked a communitywide effort to catch the killer.

Business owners are banding together to offer a $1,000 reward in hopes of finding whoever repeatedly stabbed 38-year-old Owen Timothy Hazlett and left his body in a parking lot.

“We wanted to make a civic stand that this sort of thing won’t be tolerated,” said tavern owner John Bowler, chairman of Hermosa Beach Restaurant and Tavern Owners Assn., which announced the reward this week.

The March 2 killing, the first homicide in Hermosa Beach since 1989, is being investigated by Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives. It shocked and saddened those who knew Hazlett, a slight man who loved to play pool and who lived on the streets, sleeping in laundries, borrowed beds and on the beach under the Hermosa Beach pier.

“Timmy broke down barriers that most homeless people don’t. Most of them, you’re a little intimidated by. Timmy . . . I don’t know what it was. . . . He’d always get you to laugh,” said Hermosa Beach painter Dan Bradford, who knew Hazlett for seven years.

“Everyone liked him,” Bowler said. “His death was tragic, and rather brutal as well.”

Hazlett apparently spent the night of March 1 sleeping at an all-night laundry on Pier Avenue. An employee saw him leave and walk eastward at about 4:45 the next morning.

A passerby found Hazlett’s body shortly before 7 a.m. in a parking lot at 731 11th St. He had been stabbed 15 or 20 times in the front and back and had been hit over the head, sheriff’s officials said.

Investigators suspect that the assailant may have been attempting to rob Hazlett of money from a $650 disability payment he received the day before. Hazlett had given $500 to a friend for safekeeping, and investigators cannot account for the remaining $150, said Detective Gerald Biehn at the Sheriff’s Department homicide unit.

An estimated 200 people attended a memorial service for Hazlett in Valley Park. His body was returned to his family in Indiana, and the Hermosa Beach Police Officers Assn. collected $150 to send his family to help pay for expenses.

“He was just a nice, little harmless guy who hung around. We talked to him on patrol,” association president Sgt. Wally Moore said.

Police say a number of homeless people live in Hermosa Beach and surrounding beach cities, drawn by the warmer winter weather and temperate summers. Some stay only a few weeks. But Hazlett was a familiar figure in Hermosa Beach’s downtown and had lived in the area for years.

“He loved to play billiards and drink coffee,” said Bruce Moir, an employee at the End Zone sports bar on Pier Avenue, where Hazlett would arrive at 11 a.m. for a morning cup of coffee. Then he would sit waiting for anyone interested in shooting pool.

Bradford remembers how much Hazlett enjoyed making people laugh. He would pucker his cheeks and widen his eyes to entertain children with what he called his E.T. face. He would transpose letters and syllables for fun--referring to a strawberry malt as a “molberry start.”

Hazlett also regularly attended services at Hermosa Beach’s Hope Chapel and stayed at Bradford’s home during the January rainy season. Bradford said: “He never wanted to impose on you. . . . I was like his big brother here, even though he was older than me.

“He really touched a lot of people. I know he really pulled people out of their comfort zone and challenged us.”