Irvine Man Convicted in Fatal Shooting of Tustin Girl at Party

A Superior Court jury convicted an Irvine man Friday of second-degree murder for his part in the shooting death of a 14-year-old Tustin girl.

The jury also convicted Ruben G. Guerrero, 24, of attempted murder and assault with a firearm. He faces a maximum sentence of 29 years to life when he is sentenced March 6, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Lewis R. Rosenblum.

Guerrero’s attorney, Stuart Grant, and family members declined to comment on the verdict.

The September, 1991, shooting took place at a birthday party that drew more than 50 young people to a home in a Tustin cul-de-sac.

Lilia Vianey Guevara, a sophomore at Westminster High School, was with a group of people who drove up to the party in a Jeep. Words were exchanged between some of the party-goers and those in the Jeep, which led to a fistfight, Rosenblum said.

As the Jeep began to drive away, guns were pulled by some of the party-goers, and shots were fired at the fleeing vehicle, one of which struck Guevara in the chest.

Guerrero’s brother, Albert, 23, of Irvine, and cousin, Robert Garcia, 18, of Santa Ana, are still being sought by police for their alleged roles in the shooting.

Juror Don DeMaio of Westminster said that “there was a mind-set to do something” among Ruben Guerrero and the others, “whether to fight or shoot.”

Although not the triggerman, Ruben Guerrero instigated the altercation, said another juror, Ed Cronick of Orange.

“He was one of the ringleaders,” from the beginning,” Cronick said. “He had been seen having and firing a gun.”

The fight at the party was not gang-related, Rosenblum said.

Those involved in the fight, he said, “all live in nice neighborhoods. These are not impoverished peoplethese are middle-class people . . . just young kids drinking who had handguns.”