A California Man’s Coworker Made Fun of His Past Relationship. So He Grabbed a Pipe and Beat Him to Death.

A man in California faces up to life behind bars after he was found guilty of the second-degree murder of a coworker.

A jury in Kern County recently convicted Jose Luis Gutierrez Rosales for killing Hector Castaneda Vasquez last year, Bakersfield Now reported.

According to the Kern County District Attorney’s Office, around 10:30 a.m. on April 18, 2022, deputies received a report of an assault with a deadly weapon at a farming company equipment yard in Bakersfield.

Responding deputies discovered Vasquez on the ground suffering injuries to his head and face. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators determined that while on a morning break, Gutierrez-Rosales began bashing his coworker of three years, Vasquez, in the head with a metal pipe.

Once Vasquez had fallen to the ground, witnesses reported they saw Gutierrez-Rosales continue to beat him in the face and then flee.

Police located and arrested Gutierrez-Rosales for Vasquez’s murder 10 days later.

During questioning, prosecutors said, the defendant claimed he attacked Vasquez because he was humiliated after the victim and other coworkers teased him about a past relationship he had been involved in.

Gutierrez-Rosales will be sentenced on June 13.

He faces anywhere from 15 years to life in prison, plus one year for a deadly weapon count.

“Workplace harassment in all forms should be discouraged, but it is no excuse for the brutal beating and murder of another human being,” District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer said after Gutierrez-Rosales’ conviction. “Anyone who is so quick to kill based on so little provocation proves themself to be an unacceptable threat to public safety. Murder charges are appropriate when mere rumors and innuendo are countered with deadly and brutally violent acts.”