Countywide : Murder Suspect Faces Arraignment Friday

A man wanted for the 1991 shooting death of a 14-year-old Westminster girl was moved Wednesday from a federal facility in San Diego to the Orange County Jail to face arraignment on a murder charge.

Albert Garcia Guerrero, 27, was arrested in Tijuana on Jan. 5 and turned over to the FBI on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. The arrest ended a years-long search by Tustin investigators for the suspected killer of Westminster High School sophomore Lilia Vianey Guevara.

Tustin police escorted Guerrero from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego to face a scheduled Friday morning arraignment. Police say the former Irvine man fired at Guevara in September 1991 as she fled from a Tustin party.

Guevara had left the party in a Jeep with some friends after a fistfight broke out, and police said Guerrero fired at the Jeep, striking the girl in the chest.

“We’re very pleased with the fact that we can finally bring this person before the judicial system of the United States,” said Tustin Police Lt. Frank Semelsberger. “We never forget our victims and we never give up.”

Guerrero’s brother, Ruben, has already been convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the killing, and another suspect, Robert Garcia, 22, is believed to be at large in Mexico.

Semelsberger said Garcia is a Mexican national and would be tried for the crime in Mexico if he is apprehended.