HUNTINGTON BEACH : Friends Mourn Victim of 4th of July Slaying

About a dozen friends gathered Thursday evening to remember a 21-year-old former member of the Spur Posse, which came under police scrutiny for its point system based on sexual conquests, who was shot dead in the midst of a Fourth of July melee.

Christopher Albert, who had moved to Huntington Beach a few months ago, had been walking along Pacific Coast Highway with some friends about 11 p.m. Tuesday when he was shot in the chest. Three men were detained a few blocks away and arrested on suspicion of murder, according to police.

Investigators have not disclosed a motive for the killing. But friends said Albert had “smarted off” to another man shortly before the shooting.

Friends who gathered at 10th Street and Pacific Coast Highway said Albert had been an athletic student who was known and liked by almost everyone at Lakewood High School, where he graduated in 1991. He later attended Long Beach City College and apparently planned to begin working as a plumber next week, Grant said.

Albert was remembered by friends for his athletic skills. He played baseball, football and basketball, and during his senior year was awarded an all-division honor in football, friends said.

He gained national publicity when he appeared on “Dateline NBC” and “The Jenny Jones Show” to talk about the Spur Posse, which took its name from the San Antonio Spurs basketball team and was a group of Lakewood students who were given points for sexual conquests.

A police inquiry resulted in nine arrests but the charges were eventually dropped. Albert was not one of those arrested.

On Thursday, a San Antonio Spurs cap surrounded by carnations, daisies and sunflowers served as a reminder to passersby of the holiday killing. Albert’s girlfriend of about three years, Jody Camire, stopped to remember him.

Arrested in the shooting were Estebon Quiroz Jr., 22, and Matthew Wayne Raymond, 21, both of Riverside, and Roy Casey Becerra, 22, of Corona. The three men were being held at the city jail in lieu of $250,000 bail each and were scheduled to be arraigned in Municipal Court in Westminster today.