NEWPORT BEACH

A Norwalk teenager who was allegedly involved in a carjacking and a high-speed chase that left his accomplice dead was charged Tuesday at Harbor Justice Center with robbery, carjacking and assault with a deadly weapon.

John Fierro Jr., 18, of Pico Rivera was first booked on suspicion of murder after the car crash that fatally injured the driver, Edward Castillo, 24, of Norwalk. The felony murder rule states that anyone involved in a felony that results in the death of another person is liable for murder, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Mike McDermott said.

But because Fierro was a passenger, McDermott said, his “actions didn’t directly cause Castillo’s death.”

Police say the carjacking took place at 2:30 a.m. Sunday at a restaurant in Corona del Mar. Two men, one armed with a semiautomatic handgun, confronted a musician and a waitress who were walking to her car after work. They took the keys to her 1998 Chevrolet Malibu and drove off, police said. Neither the waitress nor the musician was injured.

In a police chase at speeds up to 100 mph, the suspects hit a guardrail on a transition ramp to the San Joaquin Hills tollway and were thrown through the car windows. Castillo was pronounced dead at the scene. Fierro is being held without bail at the Orange County Jail.