Palmdale Boy Sought in Slaying of Neighbor

A 17-year-old Palmdale boy described by those who lived near him as a “neighborhood troublemaker” was being sought Friday in the death of a neighbor who was gunned down after a front yard argument.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said Abel Martin Gonzales is suspected of slaying Stuart Jeter, 34, at 7 p.m. Thursday in the 200 block of Pictorial Street. Neighbors said they saw Gonzales running from the shooting scene with a shotgun in his hand.

Deputy Patrick Hauser said a 14-year-old boy who was with Gonzales at the time of the shooting was arrested early Friday on suspicion of murder and was being held at Sylmar Juvenile Hall. Though Gonzales is also a juvenile, his name was publicized because of the seriousness of the crime and because investigators were seeking help to find him.

Jeter was shot about an hour after he had a loud front yard argument with Gonzales in which neighbors said they heard him cursing the boy, using racial slurs, and telling him to stay away from the property. Neighbors who heard the dispute did not know what prompted it and investigators on the case were unavailable Friday.

However, two residents who asked not to be identified because the youth remained at large said that the boy previously had several disputes with neighbors who believed he was responsible for a growing graffiti and vandalism problem in the neighborhood.

“That could have been me--I’m surprised he didn’t shoot me,” said one of the residents. “I got into it with him once, telling him right on the street not to come around my property. I think that’s what this guy must have done. And he got shot.”

The resident said that after hearing the shooting and seeing the teen-ager running with a shotgun, he got in a car and tried to follow the boy but lost him when he ran into the open desert near the neighborhood.

“It could have been any neighbor who got shot,” said another resident who said she had recently caught Gonzales painting graffiti on her property and argued with him. “He was the neighborhood troublemaker.”