27-year sentence for 2017 Nyeland Acres shooting that killed Camarillo mother
An Oxnard man was sentenced to 27 years in prison on Friday for his involvement in a 2017 shooting that left a young Camarillo mother dead.
Jacob Jamal Steir, 26, had pleaded guilty in August to a manslaughter charge and a count of attempted murder. He also admitted to three special allegations involving prior crimes.
As part of that plea agreement, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kristi Peariso on Friday dropped the attempted murder count but gave Steir the highest term for the manslaughter charge. Steir received 400 days credit for time served.
During victim impact statements, the Camarillo woman – 26-year-old Alexis Jean Lopez – was remembered as a fun and outgoing person.
“She deserved a beautiful life with all who loved her,” her mother, Marizza Lopez, told the court.
Wrong man was target
The events that led to the young woman's death involved a case of mistaken identity, authorities have said.
On Oct. 8, 2017, Lopez was stopped at a traffic signal in the Nyeland Acres area, waiting to turn left. A 27-year-old Oxnard man was in the passenger seat of her Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck.
At around 9:45 p.m., Lopez and her passenger were both struck by multiple rounds in a drive-by shooting. Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene. Her passenger was hospitalized and survived.
An Oxnard Police Department investigation found that on the night of the murder, an associate of Steir’s sought revenge for an unrelated shooting earlier that same day, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
The associate mistook Lopez’s passenger for someone involved in the earlier shooting. The associate asked for Steir’s gun and “opened fire on the unsuspecting vehicle,” prosecutors said.
Forensic testing ultimately confirmed Steir’s gun was the weapon used in the fatal shooting. The crime had gone unsolved for five years until Oxnard police arrested Steir in October 2022.
The man who pulled the trigger, prosecutors believe, is already in prison for other crimes in Ventura County, including murder, the DA's office said in August. He has not yet been named due to the ongoing investigation. He poses no threat to the public, authorities said.
In a statement Friday, Senior Deputy DA John Barrick, who prosecuted the case, praised the efforts of Oxnard police, "who continued to vigorously investigate the case despite having very little evidence to go on in the beginning, and they will continue their investigation until the shooter is brought to justice.”
Family speaks in court
During Friday's sentencing hearing, seven members of Lopez’s family spoke about their loss.
Natalie Barton, her older sister, said she’s had to take antidepressant medication to cope with the loss of her best friend and has been “dying of a broken heart.”
L.J. Stephenson, Lopez’s son, was 4 years old at the time of the murder. Now 10, L.J. tried to speak about his mother but broke down in tears. The boy's uncle read his statement for him.
L.J. wrote that he couldn’t comprehend what had happened when he first heard about his mother’s death. Because Lopez loved butterflies, L.J. said he knows his mother is visiting him whenever he sees one.
“The memories I hold are simple but precious," the boy's uncle read aloud on his behalf.
Lopez grew up in Santa Paula and Camarillo, graduated from Camarillo High School and was a fourth generation longshoreman, according to her obituary.
Brian J. Varela covers Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Camarillo. He can be reached at brian.varela@vcstar.com or 805-477-8014. You can also find him on Twitter @BrianVarela805.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: 27-year sentence for 2017 shooting that killed Camarillo mother
