At about 6:21 a.m. July 4, staff at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano discovered Fernando Camarillo-Cervantes, 22, lying on his cell floor and with apparent “serious injuries,” according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

He was pronounced dead a short time later.

In the cell with Camarillo-Cervantes was inmate Albert Gonzalez, 50. He was not wounded, according to CDCR.

Following the alleged slaying, prison officials said Gonzalez was placed in restricted housing pending an investigation. The Kern County coroner will determine Camarillo-Cervantes’ official cause of death.

Camarillo-Cervantes came into the state prison system from Santa Barbara County on September 9, 2022. He was sentenced to 21 years for voluntary manslaughter with an enhancement for the use of a firearm. He was also sentenced to three years for assault with a firearm to be served concurrently with the first sentence.

While incarcerated, he was convicted of possession/manufacture of a deadly weapon by an incarcerated person, an in-prison offense, sentenced by Riverside County on August 1, 2023, to three years.

Gonzalez was most recently returned from parole on September 24, 2019, with a new term from Los Angeles County. He was sentenced to 11 years for carjacking as a second striker with an enhancement for a prior felony conviction of a serious offense.

Gonzalez was also sentenced by San Bernardino County to eight months for attempting to possess or own a firearm as a felon or addict as a second striker. The term is to be served concurrently with the first sentence.

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Around 10:30 a.m., the California Department of Corrections said 36-year-old Mario Renteria began “striking” 46-year-old Julian Mendez. Officials said prison staff ordered the men to stop, but they failed to comply.

According to officials, staff used chemical agents to stop Renteria’s attack against Mendez, but 30 additional inmates rushed Renteria and began striking him.

“Orders to stop were ignored and staff used multiple blast grenades to quell the violence,” officials said in a news release.

Mendez received multiple wounds in the attack. Officials did not specify the nature of his injuries, but an improvised weapon was found at the scene.

Mendez was taken to the prison’s treatment facility, where a doctor pronounced him dead at 11:05 a.m.

Renteria remains in restricted housing pending investigation into the case, officials said.

Mendez was received from Riverside County on Dec. 2, 2004. He received a condemned sentence in 2002 for the first-degree murder of two teenagers, a 15-year-old boy he beat and shot twice and a 14-year-old girl who witnessed the murder.

Renteria was incarcerated on April 27, 2022, after he was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder and arson.

KVSP’s Investigative Services Unit and the Kern County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the incident.

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