Authorities have arrested a suspect in the December shooting death of a Bellaire High School student.

Wilson Canales, a Honduran immigrant with a long criminal record, is being held by federal authorities in connection with Desmond Hamilton's death, Luisa Deason, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement division told KHOU (Channel 11) on Friday. He was arrested in New Orleans last weekend and charged with murder, Deason said.

Hamilton, 17, a popular student at Bellaire, was killed Dec. 16 outside a southwest Houston apartment complex at 5621 Westward.

Hamilton, who lived in the 4600 block of North Rippleridge, was in a car driven by a friend. The driver pulled up behind another car at the gated entry to the apartment complex and honked his horn at the first driver at the entrance.

The first driver got out of his car and fired a gun into the car in which Hamilton was a passenger. Hamilton was transported by private vehicle to Twelve Oaks Hospital. Houston Fire Department paramedics responded to Twelve Oaks and transferred him to Ben Taub Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.