Long Beach Cabdriver Killed : Violence: In a suspected carjacking, Martin Enrique Norman becomes the second cabbie in less than three months to be slain. No arrests have been made.

Investigators searched for clues Tuesday in the slaying of a Long Beach cabdriver who was shot and killed on the job, hours after celebrating his birthday with a family dinner.

The driver, Martin Enrique Norman, who turned 42 on Monday, apparently had taken a nighttime fare to downtown Los Angeles, where he was shot several times in a suspected carjacking.

After the 9 p.m. attack near 8th and Flower streets, the gunman sped off in Norman’s bright yellow 1995 Chevrolet Caprice.

Los Angeles police said the cab was recovered Tuesday in an alley near 9th Street and Grand Avenue, a few blocks from the site of the shooting. No arrests have been made. The suspect was described as a Latino in his early 30s.

It was not clear if Norman’s fare was involved in the shooting, said an official with the cab company, which offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer.

Norman, described as quiet and hard-working, was an immigrant from Mexico. In recent years, he had lived in an apartment west of downtown Long Beach with his wife and two teenage sons.

On Sunday, he celebrated his birthday with friends and relatives at a large party. On Monday, he dined with close family members.

In the evening, Norman headed back to the streets for extra cash to cover the rent.

“He was kind of low on money,” said the victim’s oldest son, Bogarth Norman, 22, of San Diego. “So he said he was going to work for a few hours.”

Later that night, LAPD detectives knocked at the family’s door with the news.

On Tuesday, Norman’s wife, a cashier at a gas station, and the couple’s children were still trying to absorb twin blows: the sudden death of the head of the family and an uncertain financial future.

“He respected everybody,” said Bogarth Norman, who expects to give up his studies and dream of becoming a paramedic to return home and help support the family.

“He used to tell me and my brothers to treat [people] like you want to be treated, and always help everybody,” he said.

The killing is the second of a Los Angeles cabdriver in less than three months. In June, a 26-year-old taxi driver was shot and killed in Hollywood after being chased by a woman with a handgun.

In February, a 46-year-old cabdriver was fatally beaten during a robbery in the La Mirada area.

Last week, a cab driver in the Lincoln Heights area was shot and wounded by a robber who fled. Another cabbie rushed his colleague to the hospital.

The latest murder stunned co-workers at Long Beach Yellow Cab, where Norman worked for the past 12 years.

Norman was known to be “solid . . . steady and reliable,” said company Chairman Mitchell Rouse.

Cabbies on Tuesday were anxious at the latest killing, he said, because of the perception that such violence tends to “come in waves.”

Norman owned two cabs. He was among the first drivers to become his own boss within the Long Beach taxi cooperative, Rouse said.

Based on the information received by the company, he said, the shooting appeared to be a random carjacking. “I don’t believe he was robbed,” Rouse said.

Shortly before the shooting, Norman had stopped by a cab stand at a major downtown hotel, Rouse said.

“We know that he had a fare with him and they were asking for directions,” he said.