Man convicted of killing popular high school student

A Calabasas man was convicted Thursday of murdering a popular high school soccer goalie outside the teen’s San Fernando Valley home early last year.

Jason Alejandro Schumann, now 26, faces 50 years to life in prison for the fatal shooting of Francisco Rodriguez.

The slaying of the 17-year-old senior at El Camino Real High School stunned community members who knew the young athlete as a happy kid with a bright future.

PHOTOS: Teen killed outside San Fernando Valley home

Prosecutors alleged that Schumann was enraged over what he believed to be a romantic relationship between Rodriguez and a woman who is the mother of one of Schumann’s children.

According to prosecutors, the woman, Elizabeth Ibarra, knocked on the front door of Rodriguez’s home and lured him out to the front yard where Schumann was waiting. After a brief argument, Schumann, armed with a gun, shot Rodriguez, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman.

Seconds later, Rodriguez’s sister ran outside and found him face-down on the lawn, Silverman said. Rodriguez was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Homicide Report: Tracking killings in L.A. County

Ibarra, investigators said at the time, met Rodriguez at a party while Schumann was jailed for identity forgery. The two exchanged text messages and other communications, which Schumann later discovered on her phone, according to authorities.

Schumann’s attorney, Anthony Brooklier, suggested in his closing argument that Ibarra had actually been the shooter.

Brooklier described her as a manipulative liar, a “meth freak” who would say anything to protect her own interests. His client, he said, had essentially been conned into taking the fall for her, because he loved the then-19-year-old and their child.

In her rebuttal, Silverman said physical evidence from the scene pointed to Schumann as the shooter. He was the only one who had a reasonable motive, she said.

Schumann confronted “a bunch of people” about their alleged relationship and told them he intended to confront Rodriguez, Silverman said.

That he could’ve then stayed in the green Ford Explorer while Ibarra shot Rodriguez was perhaps possible, but was not a “reasonable conclusion,” she had told jurors.

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jill.cowan@latimes.comTwitter: @jillcowan