Tagger’s Killer Faces Firearms Charges : Violence: Two misdemeanor counts are filed against Sun Valley man.

Misdemeanor gun-carrying charges were filed Thursday against William A. Masters II, the Sun Valley man who became an urban folk hero to admirers and a racist vigilante to critics when he shot a teen-age tagger to death under a freeway bridge.

Masters upstaged City Atty. James Hahn’s announcement by crashing Hahn’s news conference, appearing suddenly in the doorway of an 18th-floor conference room at City Hall East.

Hahn, who appeared shaken, asked aides: “How did he get in here? Did anyone check to see if he was carrying a gun?”

Masters told reporters that he wasn’t, saying “that would be foolish of me.” But he added that despite the charges against him, he intends to continue carrying a gun “until all the criminals are locked in jail, and there is no longer a threat to my life or any other citizen’s life.”

The city attorney also brought misdemeanor charges against David I. Hillo of North Hollywood, one of the two youths Masters shot. Hillo, 20, who suffered a minor buttock wound, was charged with misdemeanor vandalism for the graffiti that Masters found him painting and with violating the terms of probation imposed after a previous graffiti conviction.

Masters shot to death Cesar Rene Arce, 18, of Arleta and wounded Hillo shortly after 1 a.m. on Jan. 6 when Masters, out for a late-night stroll, came upon the two youths painting graffiti on pillars supporting the Hollywood Freeway where it passes over Arleta Avenue in Sun Valley.

Masters said that Arce and Hillo--who was carrying a screwdriver--tried to rob him and that he opened fire as they advanced on him in a menacing fashion.

The district attorney’s office earlier ruled that Masters was justified under California law in shooting Arce and Hillo in self-defense and decided not to charge him with murder or any other felony. Similarly, the district attorney’s office decided not to charge Hillo with attempted robbery or assault, saying that because he and Masters were the only witnesses to the incident, a reasonable case could not be put together by prosecutors.

The case went to the city attorney’s office for consideration of misdemeanor charges, while the debate over the shooting steadily grew more rancorous.

Masters, a 35-year-old sometime actor with a history of fighting laws against carrying weapons, was widely interviewed. Admirers hailed him as an upstanding citizen who defended himself from dangerous graffiti vandals.

But Masters’ reference to Arce and Hillo as “skinhead Mexicans” brought protests from Latinos who accused him of racism and of needlessly shooting the two youths. Others accused him of callousness for saying that Arce’s mother was responsible for her son’s death because of his upbringing.

Announcing the filing of misdemeanor charges--after weeks of public debate over justice, race and vigilantism--Hahn said all three men had broken the law that early morning, setting off a “chain of events that ended in tragedy.”

Masters was charged with carrying a concealed firearm and with carrying a loaded firearm without a permit, offenses that carry a possible penalty of 18 months in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Hillo could face 178 days in jail for the previous vandalism conviction, as well as an additional six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of the new charge.

Hahn added that Masters has approached his office and the district attorney about getting back his gun, a $149 semiautomatic pistol. The gun will be kept as evidence in the pending court case, Hahn said. If Masters is convicted, it will be destroyed.

Meanwhile, attorney Luis Carrillo said he and several other members of the Mexican American Bar Assn. would represent Hillo, whom he has advised not to talk to reporters.

Carrillo said he has obtained a copy of a police report on the shooting that says a visibly shaken Masters told the first officers at the scene: “I shot him because he was spray-painting,” conflicting with his later account of self-defense.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Diamond said that Masters’ initial statement did not mean Masters did not feel threatened. He noted that Hillo confirmed much of Masters’ account.

Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this story.