Prosecutors Won’t Charge Tagger’s Killer

In a case that tapped into widespread public loathing of graffiti vandals, prosecutors Thursday refused to file charges against a Sun Valley man for killing an 18-year-old tagger, calling the killing justifiable self-defense.

William Andrew Masters II, 35, who shot one tagger to death and wounded another, walked free from the Van Nuys Jail, although he may still face misdemeanor charges of illegally carrying a concealed handgun.

The shooting was “a lawful killing” because Masters reasonably believed that “he was in imminent peril” as he faced the two taggers--one carrying a screwdriver--in a midnight confrontation Tuesday under a freeway overpass in a desolate section of Sun Valley, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert L. Cohen.

“We have to go by what the law requires,” said Cohen, who reviewed the case. “A killing is not illegal if a person is in honest and reasonable fear for his own safety.”

The evidence showed, he said, “that Masters had that state of mind” and it would be difficult to secure a conviction.

Masters agreed. “Where are you going to find 12 citizens to convict me?” he asked rhetorically in an interview Thursday.

“I am not a hero for shooting a tagger. I was shooting someone who was threatening my life,” he said, adding that the taggers threatened him with a screwdriver in a robbery attempt after he wrote down their license plate number.

Asked if he would continue to carry a gun, for which he has no permit, Masters replied: “Of course I am. . . . Are the criminals going to quit tomorrow? . . . Next time I will hesitate before shooting, but it happened so fast in that situation.”

Police and prosecutors said they were overwhelmed by dozens of calls from graffiti haters supporting Masters. Attorneys volunteered to represent him, other residents offered money for a possible defense fund and one man showed up at the jail, saying he wanted to take Masters out to dinner for performing a “profound service to the community.”

Cohen showed a reporter a thick wad of messages he said were mostly from the public and supportive of Masters, but denied that the outpouring had any impact in his office’s decision not to press charges.

“We didn’t do it to make the public happy,” Cohen said.

The decision stunned and outraged the family and friends of Cesar Rene Arce of Arleta, the tagger Masters killed, and drew protests from David Hillo, 20, of North Hollywood, whom Masters wounded in the buttock.

“Does this mean we can carry a gun and shoot anybody and just laugh at justice?” asked an apparently shocked Veronica Ramirez, a cousin who accompanied Arce’s older sister, Lilia, to Cohen’s office in the Van Nuys Courthouse Thursday to learn of the prosecutor’s decision.

“My family’s hurting right now,” Lilia Arce said. “And all I have is a picture of my brother to remember him by.”

“My friend is dead,” Hillo said. “It’s terrible he can get away with this.”

Cohen said that his office doubted that prosecutors could convict Masters of murder because a defense attorney could make a good case for self-defense. But because it is a misdemeanor to carry a concealed handgun without a license, Masters’ case will be handed over for review to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, which prosecutes lesser crimes, Cohen said.

“We don’t condone carrying a firearm and (Masters) might find himself before the court for that,” Cohen said.

“I knew things like this happened before it happened, that is why I carry a gun,” Masters told The Times.

Masters, a bit-part actor with a history of quixotic quests, was on his customary late-night stroll on a lonely stretch of Arleta Boulevard when he encountered Arce and Hillo spray-painting graffiti on support columns of the Hollywood Freeway overpass. According to Hillo, he and Arce saw Masters write down the license plate number of their car, and they approached him, demanding that he give it up.

Hillo conceded that he was carrying a screwdriver but said he was not using it as a weapon. He carried it as a climbing aid to scale traffic sign poles, he said.

On Thursday, Cohen quoted Hillo as saying that although he and Arce were not gang members, they were dressed in gang-style attire and were only an arm’s length from Masters when Masters fired. Hillo conceded that he “could understand why (Masters) would panic,” the prosecutor said.

Masters said that he gave Arce and Hillo the paper with the license plate number. “They said, ‘Empty your pockets’ ” he said, and one appeared ready to attack him with a screwdriver. “I turned around and started walking away briskly,” he said. “They started following me,” he said, and he reached into his fanny pack under his sweat shirt and got his gun, fearful that the two men might have had a gun or knife themselves.

“They made it plain to me that I wasn’t going to be going anywhere,” he said.

He saw Hillo approaching out of the corner of his eye, turned and shot them both, he said.

“When your life is on the line, you have to deal with the probabilities,” he said.

Hillo denied there was any attempt to rob Masters.

In the past, Masters has battled for his belief in citizens’ rights to bear arms, friends and family say.

The son of a bicycle repairman and the fourth of seven children, Masters grew up in the rural town of Holyoke, Mass., where he enjoyed singing in the school choir and playing chess. He learned to shoot a gun from his father, his older sister, Linda Masters, said in an interview Thursday.

Her brother, Linda said, has a penchant for martial arts and collecting antique swords. He views life in terms of right and wrong.

When she was told of her brother’s case, Linda lamented: “He did something that was none of his business--as usual.” But later she and other family members expressed relief upon learning that Masters would be set free.

“We’re so happy that he’s not being charged,” she said. “We’re thrilled with the outcome.”

After he graduated from high school, Linda said, her brother left Holyoke for Boston, where he became involved in theater at a local college. From there, he moved to Austin, Tex., where he attended the University of Texas and acted in more musicals.

However, it was while working as a security guard in Austin in 1981 that Masters was stopped by police and arrested for carrying two martial-arts swords in his belt while walking down a street, according to his sister and police.

“Officers asked him why he was carrying the weapons,” said Ann Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Austin Police Department. “He said he needed them for protection. We told them they were illegal and then he was arrested.”

Masters waged a lengthy court battle, arguing he had a right as a U.S. citizen to carry the weapons. But in 1985, the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas let stand his conviction of unlawfully carrying a weapon, according to court documents.

In his appeal, Masters cited the Second Amendment to the U.S Constitution, which guarantees the right to “keep and bear arms,” and a section of the Texas Constitution that states: “The Legislature shall have power by law to regulate the wearing of arms to prevent crime.”

Masters eventually made his way to California five years ago, moving in with a Granada Hills family he had met while pumping gas in Las Vegas. Soon, one family member recalled, Masters was ensconced in the CSUN library, researching labor law so he could file a complaint against the Screen Actors Guild for slighting non-union actors.

“He goes off on some little causes,” said his former landlady, who asked that her name not be used.

Masters is not a member of SAG. According to his friend, Leo Bertucelli, a screenwriter who was working with him on a script, Masters qualified to join the union but refused because he believed he should not have to.

Times staff writers Ann W. O’Neill and Julio Moran contributed to this story.