No Suspects Yet in Slaying, Carjacking

As relatives prepared funeral arrangements Monday for a 22-year-old college student who was fatally gunned down in what appeared to be a carjacking, investigators were searching for clues leading to the man’s killers.

Robert Fierro, the oldest of three children, who was working two jobs to put himself through Rancho Santiago College, was fatally wounded early Sunday after he stopped to help a friend with car trouble, authorities said. He was on his way to a car show in Montebello, relatives said.

The shooting took place about 4:15 a.m. at Ball Road and Perdido Street in an unincorporated area near Anaheim. Sheriff’s deputies said two men wearing black clothing and ski masks approached Fierro and fired several rounds before fleeing in his 1993 Honda Accord. Relatives said Fierro was struck at least twice.

The unidentified friend was not injured.

Relatives and friends of Fierro were still trying to come to terms with the death of the Bolsa Grande High School basketball standout and trying to understand why he was shot.

“Why did they have to kill him if they just wanted his car?” said a 24-year-old Santa Ana man who spoke on condition he not be named for fear of retaliation.

Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson said “the obvious motive remains the theft of a car.” He declined to comment on any leads or suspects.

Virginia Fierro, the victim’s mother, said she is trying to contact the man her son was trying to help when he was shot. “Right now, I don’t know what to think,” she said. “I’m just looking for answers, some way to explain this.”

At the corner of Perdido Street and Ball Road, friends and relatives lit candles and left bouquets of carnations and mums. Residents nearby shared the mourners’ grief and expressed fear for their own safety.

A man who lives near the scene of the slaying said his wife couldn’t sleep Sunday night because she would be awakened by nightmares every time she started to doze off. The man, who did not want to be identified, said he was at work at the time of the shooting, but his wife had been home.

“She told the police what she heard, but she doesn’t want to talk,” the man said. “She’s afraid.”

A rosary for Fierro will be said at 7 p.m. Friday at Pierce Brothers Smiths Mortuary, 627 Main St., in Huntington Beach.

A memorial Mass will be said at 9 a.m. Saturday at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 17270 Ward St. in Fountain Valley. Burial will follow at Good Shepherd Cemetery and Mausoleum in Huntington Beach.