San Quentin homicide: 70-year-old killed, cellmate placed in restricted housing
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. - A 70-year-old man incarcerated at San Quentin died this week in what prison officials are calling a homicide.
Mark Squires died Tuesday at about 4 p.m., according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Squires had been with his cellmate, Gustavo Lopez, 36.
Prison officials did not explain anything else that transpired between the two men, but they did say they placed Lopez in "restricted housing" as the San Quentin investigative team and the Marin County District Attorney look into Squires' death.
The Marin County Coroner will determine Squires’ official cause of death.
Mysterious San Quentin death prompts questions from family
Dianna Coleman's brother died at San Quentin more than three months ago, but no one from the prison has told her anything official about how he died, despite the fact that she fears he was possibly beaten to death by his cellmate.
CDCR said Squires, 70, came to San Quentin from Riverside County on Jan. 28, 2000, to serve life with the possibility of parole for lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14.
Gustavo also came to San Quentin from Riverside County on Jan. 6, 2020, to serve 13 years for kidnap, corporal injury resulting in traumatic condition, and false imprisonment with violence. Those were his second strikes, prison officials said.
Another homicide occurred at San Quentin in April.
James Healy, 43, was allegedly killed by his cellmate, Joshua Jones, 50, CDCR told KTVU.
Prison officials announced the development less than two weeks after KTVU published a story saying Healy's family had not been given hardly any details about his death.
(L-R) Mark Squires and Gustavo Lopez. Photo: CDCR