Jason Fernando Ruelas, a 43-year-old Latino man, was fatally shot on July 31, 2018, in the Central-Alameda neighborhood of Los Angeles. Coroner’s records list the cause as a gunshot wound. The shooting followed a dispute at Ruelas’ shop in South Los Angeles with a relative, 70-year-old Danny Valdez, who had been staying there after Ruelas offered him temporary lodging. The disagreement reportedly began when Valdez refused to move into a trailer Ruelas provided and insisted on staying in the shop’s office area.

After the killing, police searched for Valdez, who was wanted on suspicion of fatally shooting Ruelas and wounding another man during the same dispute. On August 7, 2018, officers located Valdez at the Central Inn Motel in South Los Angeles; he fired at officers and was shot and killed in the ensuing exchange, and an FBI agent was wounded and survived. Any readers with information about Ruelas, his life, or the events at the shop are asked to come forward.