OAKLAND — Two men have taken plea deals in connection with the 2022 shooting of four cousins, one of whom was killed, after the two groups bumped into each other as a night of drinking was reaching its end.
Any Gutierrez-Rebollo, 27, of Oakland, took the most legal responsibility for the Oct. 8, 2022 killing of 29-year-old religious student Isamaeli “Eli” Mata’afa, pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter with the expectation to be sentenced to 14 years on Feb. 5.
Co-defendant Michael Monrroy-Ramos, 26, of Union City, pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon for an eight-year prison term, also scheduled to be handed down on Feb. 5, records show. His sister, Jessyca-Monrroy, still faces charges of accessory and illegal gun possession for allegedly giving her brother a ride away from the shooting scene and keeping numerous firearms, including a shotgun under her bed, in her Union City apartment.
A fourth defendant, Marianna Jesusetta Romero, was also originally charged with accessory. But in 2024, a judge kicked that case to the curb, siding with a defense motion that said it was “wild speculation” for prosecutors to contend that she acted as a lookout for her boyfriend, Gutierrez-Rebollo, when he returned to the crime scene to look through bushes for a stashed gun.
Prosecutors say that Mata’afa and three of his cousins, all men in their 20s, had just finished playing pool at a local bar and were headed home when they bumped into Gutierrez-Rebollo and Monrroy-Ramos outside on the 2300 block of Telegraph Avenue. The two men were arguing about something, and Monrroy-Ramos would later tell police he believed they did something racist, so a confrontation ensued.
One of Mata’afa’s cousins testified the foursome was simple trying to walk by when the two men got in their face and aggressively stated, “Qué pasó,” while “throwing their hands” at the men. After brief fisticuffs, the cousins were leaving when both men fired shots at them, authorities said.
All four victims were hit at least once. Mata’afa was killed by a gunshot wound to his back, and prosecutors conceded they didn’t know who fired the deadly shot. Another of the victims spent a month in the hospital with two gunshot wounds. Another was struck in the arm, and the fourth received a gunshot wound to his testicles, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing.
Gutierrez-Rebollo and Monrroy-Ramos both gave statements, with Monrroy-Ramos initially telling police he was at the bar alone, then claiming he fired accidentally or simply to scare the victims, according to police. Gutierrez-Rebollo admitted to shooting at them and expressed remorse when police asked him what he’d have to say if Mata’afa’s mother was present.
“There are no words — there are no words to make up for none of that. I’m sorry from the deepest part of my heart,” he told investigators, according to police testimony. “And just let God do his will.”
At the time of his death Mata’afa was two years into a Master of Divinity at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, a program for people who hope to become a chaplain or minister, according to the school’s website. He had been awarded a scholarship after graduating from Kanana Fou Theological Seminary in American Samoa, according to a memorial post on the Pacific School of Religion’s website.
“His goal in pursuing a Master of Divinity was to serve God and his community in San Lorenzo and the greater Bay Area,” the post reads. “He also had a commitment to address climate change, which threatens the Pacific Islands through extreme weather and sea level rise, from a theological perspective.”