Wilmington man charged in fatal shooting of 17-year-old girl in San Pedro

A 25-year-old Wilmington man has been charged in the slaying last month of a 17-year-old girl in San Pedro, police said Monday.

Luis Aurelio Morales was arrested last week on suspicion of fatally shooting Kayla Yolanda Huerta while she was in a vehicle that rolled into a wall in the 700 block of W. Sepulveda Street about 2:30 a.m. June 18, police said.

“The suspect was with the group when he became upset at something that was said,” police said in a news release. “The suspect pulled out a handgun and shot Kayla. The suspect fled the area on foot.”

Despite the efforts of paramedics, Huerta — a mother of a 3-year-old girl — was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Harbor Area detectives did not say what led them to Morales. They presented their case to prosecutors on Monday, Los Angeles police Detective Julie Scruggs said.

Morales was charged with murder, assault with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon, said Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani. He is being held on $2 million bail, according to jail records.

Police declined to share what exactly was said that angered Morales or who said it. Scruggs said Huerta was in the moving vehicle when she was shot, but she declined to say where others in the group were.

“My understanding is that Kayla did not know the suspect; this was the first time she had met him,” Scruggs said in an email.

According to court records, Morales has convictions dating back to 2010 for battery, battery on a peace officer, domestic violence, brandishing a weapon, reckless driving, resisting arrest and contempt of court.