LAPD Searches Calabasas Landfill for Weapon Used in Goalie Killing

Officers and community volunteers were searching the Calabasas Landfill in Agoura Hills Wednesday morning for the gun used in the slaying of a popular El Camino Real High School student, police said.

“We received credible information that the weapon used in the murder of Francisco Rodriquez is in the landfill,” Lt. Dave Storaker, incident commander, told Agoura Hills Patch.

The search party, composed of detectives and citizen volunteers, arrived at the landfill at 5300 Lost Hills Rd. shortly after 10 a.m.

“We have fire department heavy equipment … and prospectors with metal detectors that will be used in this [search],” said Storaker.

The first team of searchers was dispatched to the scene at approximately 10:40 a.m. during a heavy windstorm with gusts has high as 30 mph or more.

If a weapon is found, it will be photographed by the science and investigation division and booked for ballistics testing, said Storaker. 

Rodriguez, 17, was shot in front of his Winnetka home in the 6900 block of Cozycroft Avenue on Jan. 11 soon after returning from a soccer game in which he played. Police said a woman knocked on his door, and when the boy answered, he was shot.

Jason Schumann, 24, and Elizabeth Ibarra, 19, of Calabasas were arrested on Jan. 16 in connection with the crime. Schumann was charged with murder, and Ibarra is being held on an alleged probation violation. The suspects, who both have criminal records, remain jailed pending further court proceedings.

Police sources have told the Daily News and the Los Angeles Times that Rodriguez may have found himself in a love triangle involving a woman with a jealous male friend.

—City News Service contributed to this report.