Gang member held in killing of football star

The shooting death last May of high school football star Dannie Farber Jr. left his family, friends and teammates in disbelief and authorities mystified.

For months, investigators struggled to determine the identity of the young man in a hooded sweat shirt and baseball cap who confronted the Narbonne High senior in a Compton chicken restaurant, where Farber was eating dinner with his girlfriend.

“Where are you from?” the suspect allegedly demanded. Farber stood up, apparently aware of the danger, and replied, “I don’t gangbang,” according to prosecutors.

Moments later, Farber -- three weeks from graduation -- was shot dead as his girlfriend watched.

The killer fled, and the trail quickly grew cold. Though the incident was captured on the Louisiana Fried Chicken restaurant’s surveillance video, the killer’s face was not visible. Though witnesses and locals stayed quiet, authorities said Wednesday that the killer did not.

Investigators said Arlon Watson, 21, of Compton told people he had shot Farber. Then “some people came forward and helped the investigation,” leading to the arrest of Watson, a gang member with a criminal record, Sheriff’s Lt. David Dolson said Wednesday.

Compton gang investigators arrested Watson last week on an unrelated warrant. Prosecutors charged him with the murder, alleging that he committed it for the benefit of a street gang.

Farber’s family saw the alleged killer for the first time on television Wednesday. Farber’s grandmother said family members, including his mother, scrambled to the Compton courthouse when they learned the suspect would make his first appearance. They missed the brief proceedings after being directed to the wrong courtroom, and left disappointed.

“We want to know why he did this. That’s the main thing,” said Michelle Malveaux, Farber’s grandmother. “Somebody just sitting in a restaurant, eating with his girlfriend, you don’t just go up and ask him where he’s from. . . . Just because you live in Compton doesn’t mean you are from a gang.”

Malveaux said her grandson, an All-City wide receiver, dreamed of playing for USC after a stint at Los Angeles Harbor College. “He always told me, ‘Grandma, I’m going to have a football in my hand, not a gun,’ ” she said.

Investigators confirmed that Farber was not involved in gangs and did not know Watson. Dolson said the motive for the killing was nothing more than Watson’s suspicions about a young man he did not recognize.

“He considered it a gang turf deal . . . and this might be a rival,” Dolson said. “Ultimately he did it because he is a thug.”

Authorities said Watson was convicted in 2008 of a robbery in the South Bay and sentenced to 138 days in jail.

At Farber’s high school, students, parents and coaches gathered Wednesday for national signing day, when college football recruits around the country sign letters of intent.

“Four of our kids had scholarships. It was a big thing,” Narbonne Coach Manuel Douglas said. “But for me, it was a little bittersweet. . . . Both these things happening on the same day.”

richard.winton@latimes.com

alexandra.zavis@latimes.com