Alvaro Juarez Ayala, 28, was shot and killed in the driveway of his East Oakland home on a Sunday night after two masked gunmen attempted a robbery. Ayala had handed over his cell phone and wallet, which contained no money, and then stepped between the robbers and his wife and two children; family members say the men responded by fatally shooting him. His 10-year-old son alerted relatives, and Ayala died in the arms of his older brother Eduardo at the scene on the 900 block of 70th Avenue, two blocks east of the Oakland Coliseum BART parking lot.

Ayala, an immigrant from Michoacan, Mexico, lived in the yellow stucco house with extended family, including his wife Carmen Mugia, their two children, his mother and siblings. The family had owned the home about five years and previously considered the neighborhood safe. Oakland police described the death as the result of an attempted robbery; no descriptions of the shooters could be provided by the family.

Anyone who knew Alvaro or witnessed the incident is asked to contact Oakland police with information.