Friends Praise Man Held in Tagger’s Death

William A. Masters was described by friends Wednesday as a “do-gooder,” a “white knight” who liked long walks late at night and guns, a combination that proved deadly when he killed a graffiti painter he encountered on a late-night stroll in Sun Valley.

But it was not for painting graffiti that Masters shot Cesar Rene Arce, 18, of Arleta, one of Masters’ friends said. Masters told him from jail that Arce threatened him while trying to rob him, the friend said.

Masters, 35, of Sun Valley, a sometime actor arrested on suspicion of murder after the Tuesday morning shooting, was being held in the Van Nuys jail Wednesday while police tried to determine whether to declare the shooting self-defense or to ask the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office to prosecute him for murder or manslaughter.

Conflicting versions of the shooting under a Hollywood Freeway overpass made it a difficult decision, police said. Another tagger, who was wounded but survived, admitted that he was carrying a screwdriver but denied threatening Masters with it in a faceoff that began when Masters wrote down the license plate of the taggers’ car when he found them spray-painting graffiti.

Masters had no permit to carry the gun, police said.

While the facts were still unclear to police and prosecutors, that did not prevent some graffiti haters from praising Masters’ actions.

Phone calls supporting Masters poured into the district attorney’s office all day long, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Cohen, who is reviewing the case.

“I think this man performed a profound service to the community,” said Tom Irwin, 26, of North Hollywood, who dropped by the jail Wednesday in an unsuccessful attempt to visit Masters and congratulate him. Irwin said he will contribute to Masters’ defense.

David Hillo, 20, the surviving tagger, denied that Arce was trying to rob Masters.

Arce “got killed while he wasn’t doing anything bad,” said Hillo, released after hospital treatment for bullet wounds in the buttocks. “Tagging is a misdemeanor.”

Arce’s cousin, Alexandra Parra, complained that Masters “had no right to create such suffering. Everybody is suffering, (Cesar’s) sisters, his mother . . . his life was just beginning.”

Hillo has confirmed that he and Arce were painting graffiti on columns supporting the freeway at Arleta Avenue shortly after midnight Tuesday when Masters walked past on his usual late-night stroll. They noticed him writing down their license plate number.

Hillo said that there was a confrontation in which Arce demanded that Masters give them the note, but said they made no actual threatening moves before Masters shot them. Hillo said he had turned to run when Masters opened fire.

Leo Bertucelli, a 45-year-old screenwriter who has known Masters for five years, said Masters told him that Arce had demanded that he hand over his wallet. Bertucelli said Masters replied that he only had $3, at which Arce got incensed and stepped forward. It was then Masters fired, Bertucelli said.

“He’s one of those do-gooders,” he said of Masters.

“He is sort of a white knight character, a good Samaritan type,” said a Granada Hills woman whose family Masters once lived with. She recalled that after the Northridge earthquake, he came to their house to help them.