Out of Tragedy, a Gift of Life : Liver of Boy, 12, Killed by Errant Bullet Is Donated to Mother of 3

Steven Morales was an avid wrestling fan, a 12-year-old from Highland Park whose parents struggled to keep him from becoming ensnared in the gangs that plagued their neighborhood.

Despite their best efforts, Steven became the latest unintended victim of a gang shooting Sunday when he was taken off life support systems, a day after he was shot in the head while standing with friends outside a neighbor’s home.

But in a postscript to a life cut tragically short, family members said Steven’s liver was harvested and used to save the life of a 36-year-old Moreno Valley mother of three.

It was only on Monday that the woman, Laurie House, had placed her name on an organ donor recipient list, according to her sister, Jodie Yanker.

“It’s a miracle,” Yanker said from Loma Linda University Medical Center, where her sister was recuperating Monday after a seven-hour operation.

Yanker said that her sister’s health had been deteriorating rapidly, her kidneys failing and her liver shutting down. “They gave her basically until [Monday] to find her a liver,” Yanker said. Morales was “just an innocent bystander” in a shooting that apparently was gang-related, said LAPD homicide Det. Joseph Aparicio.

The gunman may have mistakenly believed he was firing at a rival gang member, police said. But relatives and detectives said Steven wasn’t involved in gangs.

“He’s only 12,” Morales said. “He’s into wrestling. . . . He’s into sports. I keep him in sports year-round. It’s just devastating.”

The seventh-grader’s dreams were cut short Saturday night, when according to detectives, a gunman opened fire from a car at Avenue 58 and Bonner Street in Highland Park. Morales, who was about 150 feet away, was struck once in the forehead.

LAPD Det. Martha Ramos said investigators are attempting to identify the gunman. He was described as male Latino with black hair combed straight back, a mustache and goatee, between the age of 25 and 30. The vehicle was described as a dark blue or black pickup truck.

House, who received Morales’ liver, is a bookkeeper who contracted hepatitis C about six months ago, according to Yanker. At that time, Yanker started contacting the media to bring awareness to her sister’s plight and to the importance of donating organs, Yanker said.

The Morales family said they learned about House’s condition through a televised news conference Yanker held last week.

“I remember just the feeling for the family,” said Steven’s mother, Yolanda. “Unfortunately a person has to die in order for another to live. . . . I know that my son saved her life. I want to meet her because she became a part of my son.”

Steven, who would have been a student at Burbank High this fall, was wearing a T-shirt with an image of professional wrestler Steve Austin when he was slain, said neighbor Yasmira Gonzales, who witnessed the shooting.

Steven’s father, Jack Morales, said the boy had asked for a T-shirt with the image of the “Undertaker,” another professional wrestler. Jack Morales had planned on getting him one.

Now, Morales said, “I’m going to go buy one and put it in his casket so he can have that with him. . . . Sorry, mijo, it’s late.”

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Times wire services contributed to this story.