Concord man convicted for 2019 deadly shooting at Petaluma Factory Outlets
SANTA ROSA -- A Concord man was convicted Tuesday for the 2019 murder of a teenager at the Petaluma Factory Outlets.
The Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said 29-year-old David Kyle Lubkin faces up to 50 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and discharging a firearm at a motor vehicle causing death.
The shooting happened around 8 p.m. on the evening of September 28, 2019. Prosecutors said Lubkin had set up a meeting with 19-year-old Ezequiel Garcia under the guise of buying a gold necklace off Craiglist.
When Garcia pulled up in his car, prosecutors said Lubkin confronted him about a separate necklace they had exchanged several days prior.
Garcia started to drive away, and that's when Lubkin fired three shots into the back of the vehicle. One of those bullets killed Garcia, and his car crashed to a stop in the parking lot.
It took investigators about six weeks, but they eventually identified Lubkin as the suspect, and Petaluma police officers arrested him at his home in Concord in conjunction with both Concord police and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
During the trial Lubkin confessed to being the shooter but claimed he had been acting in self-defense because he was not sure what Garcia would do during the altercation. But the jury convicted him on all counts.
His sentencing is expected to take place in late July.