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 — identified Thursday morning by Oakland police as Jose Jesus Rodriguez, 34 — 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.
Alameda County prosecutors charged him Thursday with one count of murder, four counts of attempted murder and one count of assault with a deadly weapon as well as numerous enhancements.
A possible motive for the spree has not been released. The stabbings mirror multiple other alleged attacks by Rodriguez, who has faced concerns about his mental health amid a string of arrests in 2025 and 2026.
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, Rodriguez, who authorities have 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. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office had yet to charge him as of early Thursday morning.
Rodriguez has faced arrest numerous times over the last several years – most notably in June 2019, when authorities claim he stabbed two other people while on probation in another battery case.
In that case, Oakland police say Rodriguez first stabbed a passenger while working as an Uber driver in deep East Oakland, near 101st Avenue and International Boulevard, according to court records. After fleeing the car, Rodriguez then stabbed a garbage collector while wielding a large kitchen knife, authorities claimed in court records. Later that night, Rodriguez was allegedly seen throwing glass bottles at another person.
Rodriguez pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to six years in prison.
While on parole in that case, Rodriguez was arrested several more times in the spring and summer of 2025, often after authorities found him fighting or beating others around him, court records show.
The first arrest came in May 2025, after Rodriguez allegedly punched his father in the face when asked to turn off his loud music, according to court records. At the time, his father voiced concern that Rodriguez was high on methamphetamine.
Alameda County sheriff’s deputies then arrested him three more times over the next month, either while acting “aggressive” toward family members or allegedly violating a protection order, the records show. Repeatedly, deputies were told that he was suffering from mental health issues and – on at least one occasion – was hearing voices, according to the records.
In late June 2025, Rodriguez was again arrested after allegedly repeatedly punching someone at a home care facility in Hayward for an unknown reason, court records show.
Each time, he was either released on his own recognizance or handed a short jail term, the longest being eight days.
In October 2025, authorities say Rodriguez repeatedly hit two other people with a wooden board on the 8600 block of MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland.
About 15 minutes later, Rodriguez allegedly approached a person on nearby E.C. Reems Court and kicked that person’s vehicle before biting the vehicle’s owner and pulling a knife on them, the court records show. Police claim Rodriguez then went on to head butt an officer while being arrested, according to the records.
Rodriguez pleaded no contest in December 2025 to assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and was sentenced in January to two years of probation.
That deal called for him to be admitted into a 21-day treatment program, followed by a 90-day residential treatment program. Violating that probation left him at risk of anywhere to a year in jail to two years in state prison, court records show.
In April, however, Dublin police arrested Rodriguez amid claims he once again was trying to fight people – this time at Parkway Baptist Church off Village Parkway.
One person told police that Rodriguez was standing on the sidewalk outside the church when Rodriguez motioned for the person to fight him – after which Rodriguez approached and started swinging fists in his direction, according to court records. He was ultimately taken to the ground and placed under a citizen’s arrest by that person and another churchgoer who rushed to help, the records show.
He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, with credit for 26 days already served.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.