Ernest Aguirre, 27, was fatally shot in a targeted attack on Clara Street near Elizabeth Learning Center in Cudahy, California, on February 25, 2020. Witness testimony at trial described Aguirre walking there with his girlfriend, Jasmine Godinez, when Adrian Macias approached and fired a black semiautomatic handgun. Aguirre was struck in the upper thigh and the back of the head, the head wound causing his death. Surveillance footage shown at trial corroborated parts of the eyewitness account.

Initial investigators reported the shooter approached on foot in a hooded sweatshirt, fired repeatedly, and fled in a light-colored sedan; authorities said the attack appeared aimed at Aguirre. After Macias’s arrest nearly a year later, he ultimately acknowledged recognizing and then shooting Aguirre, telling detectives he had felt threatened by prior encounters. The jury rejected imperfect self-defense and convicted Macias of first-degree murder with a true firearm allegation; the court found aggravating circumstances and imposed a life term with a consecutive firearm enhancement.

Did anyone who knew Aguirre or saw activity on Clara Street that afternoon notice anything else that could shed light on why he was targeted?