Suspect in Killing of Chatsworth High Student Faces New Charge

A 17-year-old boy already in custody for allegedly killing a Chatsworth High School student this week was charged Thursday with the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend in an earlier incident in Lancaster, according to authorities.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies also arrested Cori Williams, 25, of Lancaster, in connection with the Lancaster incident.

Williams, who was charged with being an accessory to an attempted murder, drove the 17-year-old to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in the 43900 block of Bobby Jones Drive in Lancaster at about 5 p.m. Monday, deputies said.

She went outside and argued with the 17-year-old, who punched and kicked her in the head and upper body, deputies said. When the girl ran back inside, the youth fired several shots into the residence but did not strike anyone, authorities said.

The next day in Chatsworth, police say, the boy argued with Aaron Bruce Nathaniel, 18, of Winnetka, in the parking lot of a Carl’s Jr. restaurant at the corner of De Soto Avenue and Lassen Street.

The teenager pulled a 9-millimeter, semiautomatic pistol and fired at least seven shots at Nathaniel, striking him at least four times, according to police. Nathaniel ran a few steps and collapsed, dying a short time later at Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

The assailant ran northwest into an alley behind apartment complexes facing De Soto. LAPD officers with a police dog found him about three hours later in an apartment where he had taken refuge with two young women.

The shell casings found at the Lancaster crime scene appear to have been fired by a semiautomatic weapon like the one used in the Chatsworth shooting, according to investigators, who said they have determined that the 17-year-old boy was responsible for both incidents. He was being held at Sylmar Juvenile Hall.