A car with a man sleeping inside was set on fire early Sunday morning.

(OnScene TV)

'He didn't deserve to die like that': Friends, neighbors express anger after homeless man's car set ablaze in South L.A.

Homepage News

Ruben Vives

Aug. 10, 2023 Aug. 10, 2023

Every now and then, Maria

would hop on a bus in West L.A. and take a near

two-hour ride to South Los Angeles to visit her best friend.

About four months ago, her friend started living inside a blue Ford SUV that he parked on E

102nd Street, just off Avalon Boulevard. There, the two would pass the day talking and laughing.

At home,

Carrera worried about him. He used a wheelchair to get around and after contracting COVID twice falling into a coma each time he needed a heart transplant.

But she found comfort in knowing a network of family and friends would check on him. And neighbors

had grown fond of him because of his joyful, kind and respectful personality. Some of them, they said, would call him

uncle.

So it was a gross shock to everyone on East 102nd Street to learn that someone had set fire to his SUV as he slept inside

on Sunday. Authorities said the man suffered third

degree burns and died a few hours later at a local hospital.

Brian Humphrey, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said the fire was reported at 1:39 a.m. Sunday. Firefighters arriving at the scene came across a vehicle engulfed in flames.

Video footage of the fire showed firefighters dousing the flames and the body of a person at the entrance of a parking lot of a small shopping plaza.

Los Angeles Police Department detectives believe someone deliberately set the vehicle on fire and are searching for the person or persons involved.

officials have not identified the victim

but

and others who knew the man said his name was Clay Buchanan. He was two weeks

from celebrating his 50th birthday.

In a phone interview Monday,

sobbed as she spoke about her longtime friend.

He didnt deserve to die like that, she said. He was a good

hearted man.

She said Buchanan had just returned from Riverside County

where he had been staying with a niece. She said he wanted to be closer to friends and family and that he had purchased the SUV while

to get housing.

He tried to do things on his own,

. He didnt like to be

burden to people.

Earlier that Monday

residents

dropped off flowers and lit candles by a pole sign located feet from the

space where Buchanan had

parked. The ground where the vehicle

had been blackened by the fire

and scorched items

scattered.

Taped to the pole was a printout of a photo of Buchanan with a short message that read:

My brother, we love you and we will always miss you, but we will never forget you. Say hi and give your momma a big hug from us. Love so much brother.

Reading the message was Miguel Carrillo, 45, a resident of the neighborhood. Ca

rillo had stopped by the memorial to light a candle after shopping at a supermarket across the street.

He was such a nice person, he said. He would always greet me in Spanish and ask how I was doing.

Ca

rillo said he never got to know the mans name but

pointed to some candles that had Clay written on them. He said the

was heavyset and couldnt move around much. He said many people in the neighborhood had grown fond of him and would sometimes give him food and water.

Helen Toribio, 38, another neighbor who stopped by the memorial, said the man had only moved into the neighborhood some four months ago. She said she would always see him in his SUV or sometimes in a wheelchair.

Toribio said she was at home sleeping when a neighbor called her and told her a nearby vehicle had caught fire. Toribio ran out to check on her car and saw

SUV

.

I saw firefighters pulling him out of the vehicle, she said. I thought perhaps he was

but we were driving by and saw the memorial and learned he had died. Its so sad.

Nearby, Pancho Mercado, 55, a homeless man, slowly crossed the street to the memorial site and began sobbing.

They burned him, he said. He was like family to us

e would always give us something to eat and drink.

Mercado use

his shirt to wipe tears from his face.

This really hurt me, he said, pounding his chest. He would tell us in Spanish,

love you

Several neighbors and

said a few days before his car was torched, someone had broken his windows

an argument. They wonder now if that same person had anything to do with Buchanans

.

In another phone interview, Maria Carrera's

sister, Monica

, 31, said she feels devastated by his death and angry over the manner in which he died.

That was his safe spot because everybody knew him there, she said.

Reyes said Buchanan had trouble

walking after contracting COVID in 2021. She said he was a man who viewed life with joy despite the hardships he faced

not having a home of his own and losing his mother 20 years ago.

16, she said, he had survived

times.

This man was like a brother to me, she said. Im happy I got to meet Clay for the amount of time that I did.

Both sisters described Buchanan as a smart, generous man and a big jokester.

said the last time she

him was two weeks ago. She also got a phone call from him

Friday,

before his vehicle would be set on fire. She said they told each other they loved one another.

Were going to miss the heck out of