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# Carter memorial attracts hundreds
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/carter-memorial-attracts-hundreds/
- Published: 2003-09-13T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:54:39.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Teenager gunned down in Santa Monica’s eastside neighborhood*

More than 300 people gathered at the Church of Christ in Santa Monica Friday afternoon to honor the life of Jalonnie Carter, a 19-year-old who was shot and killed Sept. 2 on 20th Street.

Every seat in the small, modest church at Michigan Avenue and 15th Street was taken by Carter’s friends, family and community members, who also spilled out into the entry room and onto the front steps.

Ladies fanned themselves with the service’s program and nodded their heads in agreement as religious leader O.J. Dyson gave Carter’s eulogy, describing him as a sweet, young man whose life was cut tragically short.

“He was not sick,” Dyson said to the gathering, who throughout the eulogy replied with “that’s right” and “amen.” “It was not an accident. He was murdered by an unknown assailant. His life was too short. He was too good to leave us in such a brutal fashion.”

Carter, who was known by friends and family as “Little Bear” and “Pooh Bear,” was shot in the back with a.22-caliber bullet that hit his heart while he was in the alley east of 20th Street, near Delware and Michigan avenues. Though there were five gang-related shootings in the neighborhood earlier this summer, family members said Carter was not a member of any gang. They described him as a hard-working young man who was studying for a career in computers while working two jobs.

Arthur Archuletta, 21, who lives near Carter’s family home in the eastside Santa Monica neighborhood, was arrested last Friday in connection with the shooting. But the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said this week there is not enough evidence to press charges against him. Police say more evidence from Santa Monica’s first homicide of the year will return from the crime lab that connects Archuletta to the crime. Archuletta remains in jail on a parole violation relating to evidence found during the homicide investigation.

Dyson during the eulogy told Carter’s family to hold their heads high.

“When the phone calls stop and the people stop visiting, just remember the Lord will take care of you,” he said.

After the 90-minute service, Carter’s friends and family were ushered past the open coffin. Several of the women cried violently as they walked away from the coffin, clutching their husbands and children, shaking their heads and repeating “Oh god, oh god.”

5E1,A hearse and a procession of limousines took Carter’s coffin and the people closest to him across the street to Woodlawn Cemetery, where he was buried. The rest of the congregation walked along the short road to the burial site. During the graveside service, Shirley Joseph, Carter’s mother, remained in a limousine and was comforted by family members.

Carter is survived by father James Carter, mother and stepfather Shirley and Larry Joseph, three sisters, one brother, one stepbrother, two grandparents, six aunts and two uncles. He also leaves behind his goddaughter Taya Martin, the daughter of his best friend Paul Martin.

Dawn Haskins, Carter’s older sister who is studying criminal law in Louisiana, wrote this message to Carter in the service program:

“My Dear Brother, I love you so much. We have been through so much together the years we shared. I will miss your sarcasm that stayed having me laugh. I will miss the conversations we shared when I called home from college. My drive for finishing college and making a better life for myself and us, was you. I did everything for you. Because I wanted you to have someone to look up to and know that there is no limit to what you can do in life.

“You were a sweet and dear person who kept a smile on his face and others. You were never any trouble or bothered anyone. God bless your soul...”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/091303-01_01-7.jpg)

was shot in the back on Sept. (Photo: Courtesy photo Jalonnie Carter)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/091303-01_02-7.jpg)

Pallbearers carry Jalonnie Carter’s body to Woodlawn Cemetery on Friday. (Photo: John Wood/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 13, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/091303.pdf?ref=smdp.com)