Jose Gutierrez was killed on January 21, 1990, at the Mazatlan Bar in Compton, California. Court records say he was asleep at the bar with his head on his arm when Abelino Manriquez approached, grabbed him by the neck, and shot him multiple times. Witnesses described the attack as apparently unprovoked; Gutierrez had no known prior altercations with Manriquez.

Manriquez was later arrested and charged with multiple murders. A jury found him guilty of the killings of Miguel Garcia, George Martinez, Efrem Baldia, and Jose Gutierrez, and determined he personally used a handgun in each crime, finding true the special circumstance of multiple murders. He was sentenced to death and the conviction and sentence were upheld on appeal to the California Supreme Court.

Gutierrez’s death was one of several in a Los Angeles County crime spree that formed the core of the prosecution’s case. Does anyone have memories of the Mazatlan Bar or knowledge that could shed more light on what happened that night?