Five inmates coordinated an attack that resulted in the death of another prisoner last week at Pelican Bay State Prison, authorities have reported.
Correctional officers discovered Rene B. Lopez, 31, with fatal injuries in a housing unit at approximately 6 p.m. on Thursday. He was pronounced dead at the prison clinic about an hour later. Lopez was serving a 29-year sentence for assault with a firearm in Los Angeles County.
Investigators, after reviewing surveillance footage, determined that inmates Joseph W. Morales and Richard Garcia used makeshift weapons to assault Lopez. Both Morales, 40, and Garcia, 52, are convicted murderers. Garcia is serving a life sentence for murder and assault convictions from San Luis Obispo County in 1997. Morales was convicted in 2019 for a homicide in Woodcrest, an unincorporated community near Riverside. Court documents from Morales' trial describe him as frequently carrying a knife and detail a 2016 incident where he fatally stabbed a fellow resident after an argument.
The surveillance footage also indicated that Morales and Garcia passed the weapons to inmate Estevan Saucedo, who then disposed of them in a garbage can. Authorities stated that two other inmates, Jose D. Rodriguez and Freddie G. Sanchez, were also involved in the killing, though their specific roles were not detailed. Saucedo, 30, is serving a life sentence for a 2016 homicide. Rodriguez, 28, received a 31-year sentence last year for manslaughter and attempted murder. Sanchez, 35, is serving a life sentence for charges including assault with a firearm, burglary, and firing at an occupied vehicle. He is identified as a reputed member of the Boyle Heights Krazy Ass Mexican gang.
Lopez's death marks the 17th homicide within the California state prison system this year, a decrease from the 30 homicides recorded by the same point last year. The preceding year's increase in inmate killings and assaults on staff led prison officials to implement measures such as restricting privileges, limiting movement, and enhancing searches for contraband and weapons across most facilities.
