Man Fatally Shoots Man Attacking Boy Scout

A man in Torrance was arrested for fatally shooting another man attacking a Boy Scout. Carmen Reyes, Jr., 58, intervened when he saw 19-year-old Sergio Moises Wilms beating up a teenage Boy Scout, police told the Daily Breeze. Reyes, who rents a room in the same condominium unit as the Boy Scout and his mother, responded to the scene when he heard the screams for help around 5 a.m. on Jan. 18. Wilms attacked the Boy Scout while the teenager was putting items in his mother's car for a camping retreat.

"The kid started screaming for help," Sgt. Watt told the Daily Breeze. "His mom tried to get between the two. She started screaming for help."

When Reyes came out to help them, he shot Wilms, who died at the scene, police say. When police arrived, they arrested Reyes on suspicion of murder and his bail was set for $1 million. However, Reyes' neighbors, including the Boy Scout's mother, claimed he's a "good person" who was just trying to help. Wilms did not know the teenager.

The L.A. County District Attorney's Office reviewed the case and said they didn't plan on charging Reyes with murder.

"When we received the case, we decided the police needed to investigate it further before we could file charges," Ricardo Santiago, public information officer of the L.A. County District Attorney's Office, told LAist.

Sgt. Robert Watt of the Torrance Police Department told LAist, "We want to successfully and meticulously investigate this case. Because charges were dropped on this assignment doesn’t mean the case is done. It gives our detectives potentially more time to file it again at a later date."

Watt said that while the Boy Scout was injured from the beating, he did not need medical attention.