Two Masked Carjackers Shoot Man to Death

No one who knew Robert Fierro was surprised to hear that he pulled to the side of the road early Sunday morning to help a friend having car trouble. But grieving friends and relatives can’t understand why two men wearing ski masks then gunned him down and fled in his car.

Fierro, 22, of Garden Grove was shot about 4:15 a.m. at Ball Road and Perdido Street in an unincorporated area of Orange County and died shortly before 6 a.m. at Columbia Hospital in Anaheim, officials said. His car, a 1993 Honda Accord, was partially stripped and abandoned in Stanton.

“That was Robert, he’d do anything for a friend,” said his mother, Virginia Fierro. “He was a hard-working boy. He was a good boy. Whoever did this has no conscience.”

Tom Cardoza, Fierro’s basketball coach at Bolsa Grande High School in Garden Grove, was shocked when he heard of Fierro’s death. “Oh my God, no, who would want to do this to Robert? He was such a fun-loving guy. He was a pleasure to have known. He will be missed.”

Fierro was a basketball standout known for his jump shot and being so tall and thin that friends joked he’d bend with the wind, Cardoza said.

In February 1993, Fierro was hero for a day when he scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds to help the Matadors defeat La Quinta High School and end a seven-game losing streak.

After high school, the devout Oakland Raiders fan worked seven days a week at two part-time jobs--at United Parcel Service at night during the week and at a Huntington Beach office supplies store on Saturday and Sunday--to afford classes at Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana, where he majored in criminal justice, his mother said.

“He used to say to me that people who get in trouble have too much time on their hands,” his mother said. “Every once in a while he’d take a Saturday and Sunday off. This was one of those weekends.”

Cardoza said Fierro’s younger sister and his parents would attend his basketball games. “They’d be screaming the loudest, cheering for Robert.”

Early Sunday, Fierro was following a friend who was towing a customized car the friend planned to enter in a Montebello car show, said Virginia Fierro, who declined to identify the friend. “There was a problem with the vehicle” being towed that prompted the pair to pull over, Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Fred Lisanti said.

The gunmen appeared and shot Fierro before jumping into his car and speeding off, Lisanti said. Fierro’s friend was not injured.

Virginia Fierro said she and her son had discussed carjackings in the past. Both agreed that it is best to yield the vehicle and not fight a carjacker. Now, Virginia Fierro wonders whether her son reacted differently, or whether the gunmen simply did not care if they killed.

“I guess we’ll never know,” she said. “I do know we had talked about it and decided it wasn’t worth losing your life over a car.”

Fierro’s vehicle was found about 11:40 a.m. in the 8900 block of Pacific Avenue, Lisanti said.

The case remains under investigation.

In the meantime, Virginia Fierro said she is numb.

“It just hasn’t sunk in yet,” she said. “People have been coming over all day, but I just keep waiting for him to walk in the door. And he’s not going to.”

Anyone with information concerning the incident or the car is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department at (714) 288-6741.

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Lily Dizon.