Man Who Hung Out With Gang Members Fatally Shot

Benito Ozaeta was a familiar figure in the 14000 block of Rayen Avenue, hanging out with the gang members who congregate at a local apartment building, occasionally running errands for them, according to neighbors.

“His friends would always instigate him to do all their dirty work,” said a 31-year-old resident who did not want his name used.

“I guess this time he just pushed the wrong people.”

Police on Wednesday were looking for a man they said walked up to Ozaeta as he stood on the sidewalk at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and emptied a pistol into him.

The gunman fled. When police arrived, witnesses told them to follow a red car leaving the area, Detective Stephen Fisk said. Police did and eventually caught up with the car, which Fisk said contained two uninvolved college students.

Fisk said police knew of no motive in Ozaeta’s slaying, which happened across the street from an apartment building that neighbors say is a favorite gang hangout.

Residents said Ozaeta, 22, known to them as “Indio,” was an independent operator and though he may have engaged in shady dealings, he was sociable and well-liked.

“He was a good person. He was just caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said a 34-year-old woman Ozaeta frequently stopped to chat with while passing through the neighborhood. “He wasn’t out there harassing people. He would talk socially with people, with older folks, with kids. He kind of kept order out there.”

Detective John Edwards said the killer may also have been responsible for stabbing two unidentified men on the same block roughly two hours before the shooting. The stabbing victims were hospitalized.