San Pedro: Geissler Alfaro, 17

Dec. 4, 2009 10:37 PM PT

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Geissler Alfaro, a 17-year-old Latino, was shot and killed Sunday, Nov. 22, at 18th Street and Cabrillo Avenue in San Pedro, authorities said.

Alfaro was shot in the head about 11:30 a.m. Police responded to the shooting and set up a perimeter around the neighborhood to search for two males, authorities said.

Police later identified the two as brothers Albert Ortega, 21, and Joaquin Ortega, 19. They were arrested on Nov. 22, and Albert Ortega was charged with murder, according to the felony complaint filed by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Joaquin Ortega was released on Nov. 24. Prosecutors have declined to file charges against the younger brother pending additional investigation.

Alfaro was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:07 p.m.

— Corina Knoll and Anthony Pesce

Follow The Homicide Report on Twitter @latimeshomicide.

Map: The location where Geissler Alfaro was shot. Click for the San Pedro Mapping L.A. page to learn more about the demographics of the neighborhood.

The Homicide Report Blog

Corina Knoll

Corina Knoll is a former reporter for the Metro section of the Los Angeles Times. She was on the team that investigated corruption in Bell — which led to the paper’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize for public service — and went on to cover the trials of the city’s former officials. She later contributed to the paper’s coverage of the San Bernardino terror attack that won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. As a regional reporter, she wrote features about the San Gabriel Valley and the Westside. During her courts beat, she covered high-profile criminal cases and civil disputes, including the Jackson family vs AEG and Bryan Stow vs LA Dodgers. She and two colleagues investigated sheriff’s deputies whose histories of misconduct landed them on the department’s top-secret Brady list. She left The Times in January 2019. Raised in the Midwest, she is a graduate of Macalester College.

Anthony Pesce

Anthony Pesce worked for the Los Angeles Times from 2009 to 2020 as a data journalist and reporter on the Data and Graphics desk.