OAKLAND — Whether you were a family member or friend, or an unhoused person at a park, Gonsalo Lopez would help you any way he could; but not any more.
The 58-year-old Lopez was fatally stabbed just before 7:30 p.m. Monday at Cesar Chavez Park in the Fruitvale district — where he had brought food for many years to unhoused people living there, his family said Wednesday.
Gonsalo Lopez 58-year-old father of three, was fatally stabbed just before 7:30 p.m. Monday at Cesar Chavez Park in the Fruitvale district. (Photo courtesy of family)
Lopez was the first victim of the suspect, a 34-year-old man who allegedly stabbed four other people at other locations before being arrested. Police have said all five were attacked at random and that the suspect did not know any of them. A possible motive for the spree has not been released.
The four people who survived the attack were hospitalized.
On Wednesday, sadness and shock filled Lopez’s home where he lived with his three sons and wife a few blocks from the park.
A longtime chef, he had just returned home last week from a lengthy vacation in his native Honduras, where he had gone to visit his adopted daughter, according to his 28-year-old son, Kenny Romero.
Romero said for years his father had taken meals he cooked to the park whenever he could to give to give to the unhoused people living there. He had not taken any food Monday night, but had gone to the park just to visit with people, his son said.
He said his father “just helped people. He was a really good person. He would go to the park as often as he could and they would always say ‘thank you.’ ”
His family felt his love and saw his willingness to help every day.
“He was a super great father,” Romero said. “He worked really hard to give us every opportunity. Whenever we needed something he would help us.”
Romero said he will “always remember his smile, his love of music; he loved to dance. He was always happy; he was wonderful.”
The four other people stabbed were a 47-year-old man near 38th Avenue and San Leandro Street, a 31-year-old man near the Fruitvale BART Station in the 3800 block of San Leandro Street, and a 52-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man, both near 39th Avenue and International Boulevard. The 31-year-old man was in critical condition and the others were in stable condition.
The suspect, who authorities have not publicly identified but said is unhoused, was being held without bail Wednesday at Santa Rita Jail on suspicion of murder and assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm. He was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning.