Juan Manuel Vidal, 25, was shot and killed while working an evening shift at a Jack in the Box in the 9200 block of Flair Drive in El Monte on October 21, 2016. Around 7:30 p.m. a masked man wearing a fake mustache and an unusual nose, a dark hat, khaki cargo shorts and black shoes jumped the cashier counter, pointed a silver revolver at Vidal, demanded money, then fired once into Vidal’s chest. A coworker escaped to get help and a manager found Vidal and called 911; he died of the single gunshot wound. The assailant fled in a gray Lexus IS 300 waiting nearby and the robbery was not completed.

Investigators released surveillance footage and offered rewards; leads pointed to Louie Francisco Herrera. Cellphone records placed Herrera’s phone near the restaurant before the shooting and along the freeway corridor afterward, and the getaway Lexus was later linked to a family member of Frank Ledesma, a close friend of Herrera. Witnesses said Herrera admitted the killing, discussed the disguise and a .357 revolver, reenacted the shooting on a recorded conversation, and gave a revolver to another person to dispose of. Herrera was arrested January 9, 2017, tried in June 2023, convicted of first-degree murder and related offenses, and sentenced in September 2023 to life without parole plus additional consecutive terms; his appeal was rejected on March 27, 2025.