{"id":7684,"date":"2026-08-25T07:07:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T07:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7684"},"modified":"2026-08-25T07:07:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T07:07:42","slug":"hes-gonna-pay-murder-trial-ends-for-man-who-killed-newark-father-while-grieving-his-own-daughters-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7684","title":{"rendered":"‘He’s gonna pay’: Murder trial ends for man who killed Newark father while grieving his own daughter’s death"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DUBLIN \u2014 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\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Read more One killed, four injured in series of Oakland stabbings<\/a><\/p>\n

What happened next will be up for a jury to decide. The prosecution says Lopez went there with revenge on his mind, taking a \u201ckidnapping kit\u201d to the area and coldly executing 40-year-old Reynaldo Cantu after learning that Cantu\u2019s then-18-year-old son was behind bars. The defense says the shooting was an accident, brought about after Cantu reached for Lopez\u2019s pistol, and that Lopez had gone to the home in search of \u201canswers,\u201d not vengeance.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

Speaking to jurors Monday morning, Deputy District Attorney Edward McGarvey said there was \u201cunequivocal, overwhelming\u201d evidence of first degree murder. He said Lopez returned to his native Bay Area from Washington seeking revenge, acquired an \u201cuntraceable\u201d 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, \u201cHe killed my daughter, he\u2019s gonna pay,\u201d after asking Cantu if he was Danielle\u2019s boyfriend\u2019s father, McGarvey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s all that planning for? It\u2019s for revenge,\u201d McGarvey said, later adding that, \u201cAll of this shows a very willful, premeditated first degree murder.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case is about a grieving father looking for answers,\u201d Woods told the jury. \u201c(Lopez) was looking for answers when the police provided him with none.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s family didn\u2019t buy the story and blamed Elias, who was never charged in Lopez\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Read more One suspect arrested, two others still sought in El Cerrito homicide<\/a><\/p>\n

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About six weeks later, Elias Cantu was arrested for allegedly \u201cviolently kicking\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Elias\u2019 father, then tells him to come with him. When Cantu reaches towards Lopez and screams his wife\u2019s name, a shot rings out and Lopez falls slightly off camera. A few seconds later, there\u2019s another shot, and Lopez can be heard saying \u201cf\u2014ing stupid\u201d as he walks from the area. Cantu\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The video shown to jurors ends with her screams.<\/p>\n

But Woods encouraged the jury to listen to the video repeatedly, arguing that it shows the defense is correct. He pointed to Lopez\u2019s own testimony during trial, where he talked about the \u201cpure love\u201d 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\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI pulled back and that\u2019s when the shot went off,\u201d Lopez testified, saying that Cantu grabbed for the gun and there was a \u201cstruggle.\u201d He said the headshot then \u201cwent off,\u201d not conceding that he deliberately fired it, but because Lopez still had his hand on the pistol even after being shot once.<\/p>\n

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 \u201ccome with me\u201d was a way of ensuring Lopez\u2019s own safety.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the \u201ckidnapping kit,\u201d 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\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

Read more Patchwork lineup, bullpen help SF Giants end skid as starting pitcher exits early<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Louie Sixto Lopez spent days investigating the car crash that killed his daughter, then went to her boyfriend’s home and killed his dad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n‘He’s gonna pay’: Murder trial ends for man who killed Newark father while grieving his own daughter’s death - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7684\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"‘He’s gonna pay’: Murder trial ends for man who killed Newark father while grieving his own daughter’s death - 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