Stray Gunfire Ends a Life Devoted to Good Works : Violence: Church volunteer is shot while shielding niece. She is fourth victim in a week killed in similar way.

Almost every day, Kara Bynum-Buster left the comfort of her well-appointed apartment in suburban Redlands to help do the Lord’s work at the Lighthouse Church of God in Christ in a run-down neighborhood of Watts.

A daughter of the storefront church’s pastor, Bynum-Buster, 28, spent countless hours cooking food and tidying up donated clothes the church gave to poor people living in the area, near the dilapidated Jordan Downs housing project.

By all accounts, her work and that of other church volunteers helped make the crime-riven neighborhood around Grape and 103rd streets a bit more livable, a tad safer. Even gang members, according to church workers, respected the church and its works.

But Bynum-Buster was killed instantly Monday when a rifle bullet fired during an apparent robbery or carjacking attempt at the housing project struck her in the head as she bent over to shield her 1-year-old niece.

“I’m proud of my daughter. She gave her life for the people. What more can I ask from her?” said her father, Edward Bynum, 62, standing in his award-studded office at the small church Tuesday.

Bynum-Buster was the fourth person killed by stray gunfire within a week at Los Angeles-area locales that should be safe--including a grocery store and a school bus stop.

On Monday, a 27-year-old grocery clerk was killed during a shootout between a robber and an armored car guard in San Gabriel. On Saturday, a homeless woman died in the cross-fire of a drug-related gun battle in Downtown Los Angeles.

On March 21, a 12-year-old Altadena boy was slain after he stepped off a bus and was hit by a bullet during an apparent gang-related confrontation.

Los Angeles police said Bynum-Buster--the wife of a successful Redlands contractor--was escorting her niece across Grape Street after lunch when gunfire crackled about 100 yards away.

Police said a man returning to his car from inside Jordan Downs apparently got into a confrontation with someone trying to rob him or steal his car. The motorist and robber began shooting at each other. One of the robber’s bullets, apparently from a high-powered rifle, struck Bynum-Buster.

Deputy Police Chief Mark Kroeker said at a news conference Tuesday that police are searching for the robber and the driver of a burgundy Toyota Forerunner but had few details.

“We’re at a loss for details of the original incident,” he said. “We’re looking for more details and want people to come forward.”

The inadvertent killing stunned Bynum-Buster’s family and church co-workers, who described her as a cornerstone in the daily running of the Pentecostalist church.

“She was really the backbone that got all this started. She didn’t have to come down here. Her husband was well-off. She just wanted to help the people in this neighborhood,” said John Turner, another pastor at the church.

The Lighthouse operation was founded in 1980 after Edward Bynum, then living in Pennsylvania, had a vision of helping the poor of Watts and moved his 10 children to the area.

Since then, the church has built an extensive outreach program in Watts and elsewhere in Los Angeles County. It obtains donated food and clothing from supermarkets, the federal government and other churches, and buys some material itself.

Lighthouse operates a restaurant, thrift store and food market where low-income people are allowed to “shop” for free. The church routinely feeds thousands of people each week in Watts and other locations, Bynum said.

“We knew what we were faced with when we moved here,” he said. “But the area has totally changed. You don’t see people selling drugs on the corner in front of the church anymore.”

“Gang members protect us around here because of all the food we give out,” Turner said.

In June, 1992, not long after the rioting that destroyed 15 stores in the area, an arsonist burned down the church’s market. Bynum assured his flock something good would come from the blaze--and a few months later it did.

The church’s plight caught the attention of Redlands contractor Mark Buster. Moved by the church’s programs, Buster enlisted the help of his father--also a successful contractor--and together they rebuilt the market, gratis.

In the process, Mark Buster became a church regular and wound up marrying Kara Bynum, then a nurse at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Willowbrook.

After leaving her nursing job, Bynum-Buster devoted even more time to her father’s church. She raised money over the telephone, did paperwork and loaded food onto distribution trucks--often from 6 in the morning until 10 at night.

“Whenever you came here you knew who Kara was, because she was always laughing and smiling when you met her every Sunday,” said Buster, 34.

“She was totally working for God,” Bynum said. “I felt so good, and I’m happy about what she was doing. I know where she went and that’s heaven, because of what she did for people.”

Church members said that despite the presence of the church and a nearby school, gunfire is a routine occurrence in the neighborhood.