NORTH HOLLYWOOD : $25,000 Reward Offered to Help Arrest a Killer

Family members, police and a city official gathered on the North Hollywood street curb Tuesday where 21-year-old Eric Bustamante was fatally shot by gang members to announce a $25,000 reward for information leading to his killer.

“There are people who actually witnessed the shooting and we just want them to tell us about it,” said Bustamante’s uncle, Felipe Bustamante.

The Sun Valley man and graduate of Notre Dame High School was not a gang member and his death may have been a case of mistaken identity, said his uncle.

“I think he was confused for someone else,” Felipe Bustamante said. “But Eric was a really good boy. A real asset to the community.”

Eric Bustamante was walking home in the early hours of Jan. 28 from a small party when he was chased down Burbank Boulevard by up to seven gang members, shot in the back and killed, said Detective Gil Uribe of the Los Angeles Police Department.

There are few leads in the case and only a handful of witnesses, Uribe said.

After their son’s death, Eric’s parents sold their swimming pool construction business, home and cars and moved themselves and their three remaining children to Peru because they feared for their lives, said Felipe Bustamante.

“They will come back the day the person who shot Eric is prosecuted,” said Bustamante.

“The victim’s family really loved their son and we feel bad because we haven’t been able to solve” the crime, said Uribe, who called Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs’ office three weeks ago for assistance.

Wachs, whose motion for a reward was passed by the City Council on Tuesday, described the murder as a “senseless and cowardly act.”

Eric Bustamante graduated in 1992 from Notre Dame High School and opened his own auto body shop when he was 20 years old. He dreamed of a career as a professional soccer player, enjoyed building race cars and had just reunited with his former girlfriend before he was killed, family and friends said.

“We were really good friends for a long time--almost like brothers,” said Scott Fitzgerald, who grew up, played soccer and worked with Bustamante.

“Not only did I lose my best friend, I lost his entire family,” he said.

Anyone with any information should call the North Hollywood detective unit at (818) 756-8831.