A beloved Pittsburg coach was killed fighting off devil-masked gunmen inside his home. The investigation revealed betrayal and a $34,000 motive

PITTSBURG — An Antioch man has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for killing a beloved youth coach in what police here have called a failed attempt to rob 15-17 pounds of marijuana from the victim’s home.

Much remains unresolved in the death of 34-year-old Pittsburg resident Rafael Lopez: The identity of the second gunman, and just how the perpetrators got the idea to arm themselves, don devil masks and head off to a home on Havenwood Circle during the early morning of Dec. 14, 2019.

But one thing seems certain. An Antioch resident named Mark Anthony Thomas, 39, was one of two masked men who came into the home and fired shots that morning. Back in December, he pleaded no contest to one count of voluntary manslaughter and six counts of assault with a firearm. Last month, Thomas was bussed from county jail to North Kern State Prison to begin serving a 33-year sentence.

Lopez died a hero. He was shot while attempting to fend off both assailants as they pointed guns at Lopez’s stepson and others, according to witness testimony at the preliminary hearing. Lopez was unarmed but still attempted to rush the men and either disarm them or push them from the residence. After being mortally wounded he fell to the floor and died in his fiancée’s arms while telling her he loved her.

Lopez was a coach for the Junior Optimist Baseball League in Concord, and also was a part of the Concord Cobras and Clayton Valley Young Eagles football programs. He and his fiancée lived in their Pittsburg home with six children.

He spent the hours before he was killed mourning the loss of a close friend, at a gathering inside his home. That meant there was more foot traffic than usual at his residence; several friends and family members came over, including one man who Lopez’s fiancée later told authorities had never been by before, but whom others described to police as a Richmond native who, like Lopez, was involved in marijuana cultivation, according to court records.

During the night of the gathering on Dec. 13, Lopez showed one of his friends a bag containing 15-17 pounds of marijuana, worth as much as $34,000, depending on the per-pound sale price, prosecutors said in court records. After learning of this, authorities formed the theory that the shooting was an intended home invasion robbery targeting either the marijuana, or some of the roughly 50 cannabis plants in Lopez’s garage.

Thomas was identified as a suspect by high-quality surveillance cameras set up around the city of Pittsburg. The cameras identified his Kia leaving Havenwood Circle a little before 12:30 a.m., right after the shooting. The Kia was registered to Thomas and his significant other, with an address on the 5000 block of Ranch Hollow Way in Antioch.

After arresting Thomas during a raid of his Antioch home, police searched his phone and found pictures from Halloween, including one that matched the general description of the masks provided by witnesses, prosecutors said in court filings.

There was another curiosity on Thomas’ phone too: Phone records proving that he’d been in regular contact with one of the people who was at Lopez’s home during the gathering. It was the Richmond native who also grew marijuana. The records showed that roughly a half-hour before the home invasion, Thomas had called this man and spoken for about 72 seconds. The call occurred after the man had left Lopez’s home, authorities said.

Exactly five minutes after the homicide, Thomas and the man talked on the phone again, this time for only 25 seconds, authorities said. When police interviewed the man, he claimed that Thomas had been trying to purchase marijuana from him. He was never charged in relation to the homicide.

Police were able to establish with GPS records from Thomas’ phone that he left his Antioch home a little before midnight, about five minutes after the 72-second phone call. Earlier in the evening, he’d made a trip to Pittsburg and returned, authorities said.

So far, Thomas remains the only person who has faced charges in the incident. He will be eligible for parole in 2043, according to prison records.