A man who shot and killed his ex-girlfriend’s new fiance — a popular Cathedral Catholic High teacher — was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder and discharging a firearm.
It took a San Diego Superior Court jury about a day of deliberations before convicting Jesse Milton Alvarez, rejecting Alvarez’s testimony that the shooting of Mario Fierro was in self-defense.
In the weeks before the fatal shooting, Alvarez performed several online searches — including queries about hiring a hitman, “how to shoot someone in self-defense,” and “how to kill your ex’s fiancee.” On the day of the killing, Alvarez left his cellphone at home but took a gun, used his brother’s car, and sat outside Fierro’s place for nearly an hour waiting for the teacher to emerge.
The jury also found that Alvarez had lied in wait for the 37-year-old, a special-circumstance finding that means that Alvarez faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced.
Fierro was gunned down as he was preparing to leave for work just after 7 a.m. Feb. 1, 2021, killed less than two months after the school announced he and fellow teacher Amy Gembara were engaged.
Mario Fierro
(Courtesy photo)
The killing stunned the tight-knit private school in Carmel Valley, where Fierro had also coached sports, including football and track.
Prosecutors alleged that Alvarez was obsessed with Gembara after she broke off their relationship, showing up at her home, trying to contact her through others, turning up while she was at Disneyland. He got a job in the school cafeteria but was escorted off campus when staffers recognized him from a school security flier.
She sought a restraining order, but a San Diego Superior Court judge rejected her request after Alvarez said he would back off. Two days later, he tried to contact her family members.
Alvarez was visiting family in Peru when he spotted a social media post announcing the engagement. His online searches soon started. He also signed up for gun lessons on his return to California.
About six weeks later, he waited outside Fierro’s home for about an hour until the teacher walked out of his door.
Alvarez testified that he walked up to Fierro and introduced himself, and that Fierro grew enraged. He said he pulled out the gun in self-defense. The two men then tussled over the gun, he testified.
Fierro was shot six times, including two gunshots to the front of his head and two to the back of his head.
Sentencing is set for May 10.
City News Service contributed to this report.
