A Concord man has been sentenced to 17 years and four months in state prison for running over two men he knew, including a relative by marriage, outside a Grant Street gas station in October 2024, killing one of them. Alex Lazaro-Rosas pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and attempted murder in a deal that saw prosecutors drop the original murder charge against him.
The case dates back to Sunday, October 6, 2024, when Concord police were dispatched at approximately 7:45 p.m. to a vehicle-versus-pedestrian disturbance near the gas pumps at the Bonfare Market on the 2800 block of Grant Street, according to CLAYCORD.com. Responding officers and paramedics provided medical aid at the scene, but 33-year-old Jose Calderon-Rodriguez died from his injuries. Police described the incident as a family dispute, and authorities say the three men involved knew each other, with the 42-year-old surviving victim related to Lazaro-Rosas through marriage.
According to court records cited by East Bay Times, Lazaro-Rosas killed Calderon-Rodriguez in the confrontation. After driving into the two men, the suspect exited his vehicle and retrieved a firearm from the trunk of his Volkswagen Jetta before fleeing the gas station on foot, per Contra Costa News. Police launched an immediate search of the surrounding neighborhood after the driver abandoned the vehicle.
Suspect Traced to Nearby Home, Arrested Same Night
Investigating officers located Lazaro-Rosas a short distance from the Grant Street market, where he was taken into custody without further incident, the outlet reported. At the time of his arrest, Lazaro-Rosas was 22 years old and lived in Concord. He was initially booked into Contra Costa County jail on murder charges before later entering the plea agreement that resolved the case.
Under California Penal Code Section 192(a), the voluntary manslaughter charge Lazaro-Rosas pleaded no contest to is punishable by state prison terms of three, six, or 11 years and is potentially a strike offense under the state's Three Strikes law, according to the Kraut Law Group. The charge applies to intentional killings committed during a sudden quarrel or heat of passion without legal malice. His combined manslaughter and attempted murder pleas resulted in the 17-year, four-month sentence.
Restitution Hearing Set for Thursday in Martinez
Court records show Lazaro-Rosas was transferred to state custody in March to serve his prison sentence and is now housed at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla. The facility originally opened in 1995 as a women's prison before converting into a Level II medium-security all-male institution between 2012 and 2013, according to background compiled by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It now serves as a CDCR re-entry hub offering vocational and educational programming in Madera County.
With the criminal sentence finalized, the last matter to settle in the case is victim restitution. A court has set a restitution hearing for Thursday morning in Martinez. Under California Penal Code Section 1202.4 and Marsy's Law, victim restitution orders require convicted defendants to pay full direct compensation for provable out-of-pocket economic losses, including medical costs, funeral expenses, and lost economic support, according to the ACLU of Northern California. Criminal restitution orders function as enforceable civil money judgments that survive bankruptcy.
Separately, the same organization notes that the California Victim Compensation Board can provide crime victims and surviving dependents up to $70,000 for qualifying crime-related economic losses, acting as a financial safety net while court-ordered restitution is being determined or collected. The board serves as a payer of last resort for out-of-pocket expenses when restitution payments from offenders remain pending.
A Rare Homicide in Concord's 2024 Crime Data
The killing was included in annual crime statistics reported by Contra Costa News. The annual statistics provide a view of citywide crime data across categories.
Concord police also responded to 110,365 total calls for service in 2024, per the same outlet's coverage of a presentation Police Chief Mark Bustillos gave during the department's annual city council update. Those broader numbers offer some context for the scale of police work in the city during the year Calderon-Rodriguez was killed, even as his family now awaits the restitution hearing that stands as the final step in resolving the case.
