‘He’s gonna pay’: Murder trial ends for man who killed Newark father while grieving his own daughter’s death

DUBLIN — Both sides agree that Louie Sixto Lopez was grieving the death of his teen daughter, Danielle, when he walked up to the 7600 block of Sunset Avenue of Newark, armed, and confronted the father of the young man he blamed for Danielle’s death.

What happened next will be up for a jury to decide. The prosecution says Lopez went there with revenge on his mind, taking a “kidnapping kit” to the area and coldly executing 40-year-old Reynaldo Cantu after learning that Cantu’s then-18-year-old son was behind bars. The defense says the shooting was an accident, brought about after Cantu reached for Lopez’s pistol, and that Lopez had gone to the home in search of “answers,” not vengeance.

For nearly four years, Lopez, 56, of Vancouver, Washington, has been at Santa Rita Jail waiting for this trial. Now jurors will be given a stark choice — agree with prosecutors and convict Lopez of first degree murder, likely sending him to prison for 50 years to life. Or they can listen to Chief Public Defender Brendon Woods, who delivered an impassioned closing argument about why they should be debating involuntary manslaughter, rather than murder.

Speaking to jurors Monday morning, Deputy District Attorney Edward McGarvey said there was “unequivocal, overwhelming” evidence of first degree murder. He said Lopez returned to his native Bay Area from Washington seeking revenge, acquired an “untraceable” firearm showed up to the Cantu home to kidnap someone and killed Cantu on camera. One of the last things he uttered before shots rang out was, “He killed my daughter, he’s gonna pay,” after asking Cantu if he was Danielle’s boyfriend’s father, McGarvey said.

“What’s all that planning for? It’s for revenge,” McGarvey said, later adding that, “All of this shows a very willful, premeditated first degree murder.”

As he spoke McGarvey stood next to a styrofoam head on display for the jury, impaled with a stick to represent the trajectory of the bullet that killed Lopez. During a recess, Woods took the visual aid away before beginning his argument.

“This case is about a grieving father looking for answers,” Woods told the jury. “(Lopez) was looking for answers when the police provided him with none.”

Danielle Lopez was killed two months before the fatal shooting, on Oct. 2, 2022. Her boyfriend, Elias Cantu, told police that they were arguing and she got out of the car on Interstate 680 in San Jose, only to be struck by multiple cars. Lopez’s family didn’t buy the story and blamed Elias, who was never charged in Lopez’s death.

About six weeks later, Elias Cantu was arrested for allegedly “violently kicking” police who were arresting for suspecting gun possession and smoking marijuana in his car, according to court records. He would plead no contest to battery for a year of probation, but was still in jail when Louie Lopez showed up to the Cantu residence and found Reynaldo Cantu on Dec. 2, 2022.

Video from the residence shows most of what occurred. Lopez walks up with a gun and orders Cantu out of the car, asks if he’s Elias’ father, then tells him to come with him. When Cantu reaches towards Lopez and screams his wife’s name, a shot rings out and Lopez falls slightly off camera. A few seconds later, there’s another shot, and Lopez can be heard saying “f—ing stupid” as he walks from the area. Cantu’s wife, who heard her husband, then exits the home and comes to the horrid realization that her husband is dead or dying on the front yard.

The video shown to jurors ends with her screams.

But Woods encouraged the jury to listen to the video repeatedly, arguing that it shows the defense is correct. He pointed to Lopez’s own testimony during trial, where he talked about the “pure love” he got from his daughter and spending days going around the Bay Area, even searching homeless encampments, while following down rumors and possible explanations for what happened. The crucial testimony centered on exactly what happened during the final few seconds of Cantu’s life.

“I pulled back and that’s when the shot went off,” Lopez testified, saying that Cantu grabbed for the gun and there was a “struggle.” He said the headshot then “went off,” not conceding that he deliberately fired it, but because Lopez still had his hand on the pistol even after being shot once.

McGarvey said jurors should find a first degree murder was committed during an attempted kidnapping. Woods disagreed, saying Lopez lowered the gun after he determined that Cantu was unarmed and that telling Cantu to “come with me” was a way of ensuring Lopez’s own safety.

Then there’s the “kidnapping kit,” a bag full of rope, zip ties, and a gun. Woods argued police had arranged the items to look menacing when they searched and photographed Lopez’s car.