A judge ruled Wednesday, July 8, that three men who drove from Oakland to Los Angeles to commit robberies will stand trial for the murder of fitness influencer Miguel Angel Aguilar, who was ambushed and shot outside his Bel-Air home on Thurston Circle in September 2024.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Curtis B. Rappe found sufficient evidence against Jason Melara, Mahki Taylor, and Daymonee Johnson, all 20, after a preliminary hearing that laid out how the suspects tailed Aguilar's distinctive white 1959 Chevrolet Impala from a Sunset Boulevard restaurant to his front door.
LAPD Det. Charles Moreno testified that surveillance photos showed the Impala sitting in rush-hour traffic around 4 p.m. on Friday, September 13, 2024, on Sunset Boulevard with a gray Acura sedan following close behind. Moreno described the car in court: "If I may say so, it was cherried out. It had custom paint. It was in great condition. If I was a car collector, I'd want that car."
A neighbor's security camera on Thurston Circle captured the Impala cruising down the quiet residential street with music blaring, the gray Acura with tinted windows close behind. Seconds after both cars passed out of frame, muffled shouting was heard, then two shots in quick succession.
Armed confrontation at the driveway
LAPD Det. Frank Flores testified that Aguilar's wife told investigators she saw four or five masked, armed men come up the driveway when her husband stopped the Impala outside the garage. The men demanded the couple hand over their watches.
Aguilar, 43, who held a concealed-carry permit, drew his own gun. Both he and one of the robbers fired a single shot, according to Det. Flores. Aguilar was struck in the neck. He also shot Mario Melara, Jason Melara's older brother, in the back.
Surveillance footage shown in court depicted the Acura careening through a red light in Culver City on the way to Southern California Hospital, where it crashed into an oncoming car. Two men dragged Mario Melara into the emergency room and laid him on the floor. He later died.
Aguilar survived for three months before dying Saturday, December 21, 2024, while hospitalized.
Jailhouse admission
About one month after the shooting, LAPD detectives arrested Melara, Taylor, and Johnson in Oakland. While booked in the Berkeley city jail, Taylor admitted to a police informant that he shot Aguilar but said he fired only after Aguilar shot Mario Melara, according to Det. Flores's testimony. Taylor said his unregistered ghost gun, a privately assembled firearm without a serial number, jammed after he fired.
Deputy District Attorney Eric Siddall told the court the three defendants created an "atmosphere of death" when they decided to take Aguilar's property at gunpoint. The men had driven to Los Angeles for the "express purpose" of robbing people, Siddall said, and had allegedly robbed another man of a diamond bracelet and necklace the day before spotting Aguilar at Bossa Nova, a Brazilian restaurant on Sunset Boulevard.
Charges and what's next
Prosecutors charged all three with two counts of murder: one for Aguilar's death and one for Mario Melara's death under the "provocative act" doctrine, which holds that a killing provoked by an armed robbery can be charged against the robbers. Additional charges include attempted robbery, shooting at an occupied vehicle, and assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
The murder charge carries a special-circumstance allegation of killing during an attempted robbery, along with an allegation that Taylor personally discharged a firearm. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty.
All three remain jailed without bail. Arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday, July 22, in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.
Aguilar was the founder and CEO of Self Made Training Facility, a chain of 30 gyms across California, Arizona, Texas, Ohio, Nevada, Florida, and Virginia. The case fits a pattern LAPD identified as early as November 2021, when the department formed a dedicated Follow-Home Robbery Task Force after logging 133 such crimes at that time. Bossa Nova, the restaurant where Aguilar dined before the attack, was also linked to a separate fatal follow-home robbery that prompted the task force's creation.
Residents who have information about follow-home robberies can contact LAPD's West Los Angeles Division or submit an anonymous tip to LA Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
