Police Ask Help Finding Slaying Suspect

Sheriff’s officials on Tuesday asked for the public’s help in locating a 20-year-old Anaheim man who they suspect shot and killed a Rancho Santiago College student during a carjacking last week.

Authorities released a photograph of Jose Morett, the suspected triggerman in the attack on Robert Fierro, 22, of Garden Grove. Fierro was slain Oct. 20 after he stopped to help a friend with car trouble.

The shooting occurred about 4:35 a.m. at Ball Road and Perdido Street in an unincorporated area near Anaheim. Sheriff’s deputies said that two men, both wearing black clothing and ski masks, approached Fierro and fired several rounds before fleeing in his 1993 Honda Accord.

Fierro was a popular youth among his peers and a standout basketball player during his days at Bolsa Grande High School in Garden Grove.

Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson said investigators believe Morett may be “in this country illegally and may be trying to leave this country” and go to Mexico.

He said Morett was linked to the crime “through interviews with witnesses and evidence obtained from [Fierro’s] vehicle.”

Morett was described as 5-foot-4 and 140 pounds with brown hair.

Wilkerson said the only motive for the shooting appears to have been the car theft. The car, which had been stripped of its valuable parts, was found abandoned several hours after the shooting.

Among the parts taken from the vehicle were unique wheels described as Dayton 88 spoke wire wheels with gold spoke nipples and two-bladed center rings, Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson asked that anyone with information on the whereabouts of Morett or those wheels contact homicide detectives at (714) 647-7055 during work hours or (714) 834-7370 after work hours.