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# Carter killer found guilty
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/carter-killer-found-guilty/
- Published: 2006-12-19T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T23:24:18.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import

*Teen convicted for ‘03 Pico killing*

AIRPORT COURTHOUSE — A Santa Monica man was found guilty Monday of first degree-murder for the death of 19-year-old Jalonnie Carter, who was shot and killed more than three years ago while walking in an alley near his Pico Neigh-b o r h o o d home.

It took a jury five days to find Mathew Felix Vargas, 19, responsible for Carter’s murder, according to a court clerk. The trial, which got underway Nov. 29, went to the jury early last week.

Vargas, a suspected gang member who went by the name of “Lil Rooster,” will be sentenced Jan. 23\. He faces life in prison.

Carter, who was known by friends and family as “Little Bear” and “Pooh Bear,”was shot in the back in the alley east of 20th Street with a.22-caliber bullet that pierced his heart. He died a few hours later at a local hospital.

Though there were five gang-related shootings in the area earlier that summer, family members and police officers all said at the time of his funeral that Carter was not a member of any gang. Family members described him as a hard-working young man who was studying for a career in computers while working two jobs.

Carter is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, which is located in the Pico Neighborhood.

Family members could not be reached for comment following Monday’s verdict.

Former Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts, who led the department at the time of the murder, praised the detectives who worked on the case and said he hoped the verdict would bring closure to Carter’s family.

“While I realize that nothing can be done to bring back Jalonnie, I hope that his murderer being brought to justice brings some comfort to his mom, father and his family,” said Butts, now director of the Los Angeles World Airports police. “I want to applaud the work of Santa Monica’s finest — the homicide detectives — in their unwavering commitment to bring justice for Jalonnie and his family.”

Santa Monica Police arrested Vargas in April 2005, after the Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney’s Office issued an arrest warrant and charged him with first-degree murder, one count of personal use of a firearm causing bodily injury, two counts of the intentional discharge of a firearm and one count of gang enhancement that contributed to the furtherance of gang activity.

Vargas was picked up by SMPD officers at a juvenile detention facility in Sylmar. Because he was a minor at the time, authorities couldn’t discuss the previous crime for which Vargas was serving time.

Vargas, who is Hispanic and lives in the Pico Neighborhood, is allegedly a member of the Santa Monica 17th Street Gang, which frequently is at odds with the city’s other gang, the Graveyard Crips. The former is Latino, the latter black.

Less than two months after the murder, Carter’s mother and stepfather, Shirley and Larry Joseph, hired retired Los Angeles Police Department detective supervisor Jim Vuchsas to work on the case as a private investigator.

In April of 2004, the City Council authorized a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Carter’s murderer.

Mayor Richard Bloom said Carter’s “senseless” murder hit the community hard, much like the death of 15-year-old Eddie Lopez, a Santa Monica High School student and star athlete who was gunned down in similar fashion in February of this year. Police are still searching for Lopez’s murderer.

“Like Eddie, Jalonnie was a teenager who was just going about his business when he was murdered,” Bloom said on Monday.

“I’m pleased that justice was served,” Bloom added. “It is very frustrating for the families of the victims, and in particular a family which loses a young man like Jalonnie, to have to wait through a police investigation... and then for the judicial system to run its course. So I’m particularly happy for the family, and hopefully, they will be able to put a little piece of this behind them. I can’t imagine how they must feel.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 19, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/121906.pdf?ref=smdp.com)