Shooter in Richmond restaurant killings is investigated after cellmate dies

A man serving a life sentence for a double killing in a Richmond restaurant is under investigation after the death of his cellmate.

Jose Rodriguez died on Friday, June 27, after being found unresponsive in his cell at Salinas Valley State Prison, in Soledad, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.

His cellmate, Steven Miranda, was placed in restricted housing while the death is investigated as a homicide.

Rodriguez’s cause of death was not reported by the prison agency. He was 26 and had been at Soledad since 2019, serving a 15-year sentence from Orange County for attempted second-degree murder and criminal gang activity.

Miranda, 36, has been at the prison since June 2013, when he was sentenced in the 2009 fatal shootings of two men at Alvarado Pit Boss Barbeque Bar & Grill.

Miranda and Eliseo Flores, masked with bandanas, walked into the restaurant where friends Alvaro Garcia-Pena and Intez Ahmed were having a beer. Miranda fired a handgun into the floor and Flores opened fire on the men with his shotgun.

Prosecutors said the shooters were gang members and targeted the two men because they were wearing a color claimed by a rival gang.

Miranda, under third-strike guidelines, received two consecutive sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 50 years to life. The same sentence was given to co-defendant Ignacio Ruiz, described as the “mastermind” and getaway driver.

They were convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and criminal gang participation.

Flores made a plea deal and was sentenced to 25 years to life, and a man who acted as a lookout got 21 years.