After a well known gym owner and fitness influencer was gunned down in his own Bel-Air driveway in what seemed to be a randomly targeted robbery gone wrong, three suspects allegedly fled to Oakland. They would later be arrested, and not long after, the gym owner died and they now face trial for his murder.

The incident began at a Brazilian restaurant in West Hollywood called Bossa Nova on September 13, 2024, as the Los Angeles Times reports. 43-year-old Miguel Angel Aguilar was having a late lunch with his wife, before the pair drove back home in his vintage convertible, music blaring, unaware that they were being followed by an Oakland robbery crew who had come to town with the "express purpose" of committing robberies, according to investigators.

Aguilar, who owned a chain of SoCal gyms called Self Made and gained a significant following on social media, drove his 1959 Chevrolet Impala into his Bel-Air driveway, and then, according to his wife, they saw four or five masked and armed men coming up their driveway.

Aguilar, who was armed and had a concealed-carry permit, reportedly pulled his gun and shot, either before or after he himself was shot in the neck. Aguilar fell back into his vehicle, and the suspects allegedly fled in the gray Acura they had driven there, one of them gravely wounded.

Per the LA Times, the group, later identified as Mario Melara, his younger brother Jason Melara, Daymonee Johnson, and Mahki Taylor, drove through Culver City headed toward Southern California Hospital. As it careened into the hospital parking lot, the Acura reportedly crashed into another car, leaving the Acura disabled.

Jason Melara and one of the other men reportedly dragged a mortally wounded Mario Melara into the emergency room and left him there on the floor, with Jason Melara standing by briefly as nurses attended to his brother, who had been shot in the back. He would later die at the hospital.

The three surviving men then allegedly fled on foot through Culver City, "seemingly unsure of where to go," according to investigators. LAPD Detective Nellie Knight testified that the men were seen, possibly on surveillance video, sitting on a staircase together, with one of the pantomiming shooting a gun.

The LAPD arrested all three men a month later in Oakland, as the LA Times reports,  after Taylor allegedly told a police informant about what happened — saying that he had fired a ghost gun at Aguilar, which then jammed, only after he had shot a fleeing Mario Melara in the back.

Aguilar survived for three months, succumbing to his injuries on December 21, 2024.

Last week, the trio appeared in court in Los Angeles County, as KRON4 reports, all charged with robbery, assault, and two counts of murder, both of Mario Melara and Aguilar. At the hearing, an attorney for Jason Melara argued that the murder charges against his client should be dismissed, given that there was no evidence he had pointed a gun at Aguilar.

Per the LA Times, the attorney, Andrew Stein, admitted to Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Curtis Rappe that his client and the other three men "drove 500 miles to commit a crime wave here in Los Angeles," but he said the state would have difficulty proving what his client's role in the robberies was.

The crew also reportedly targeted another victim the day prior to the Bel-Air incident, stealing a diamond bracelet and a necklace.

In the end, Judge Rappe ruled that there was sufficient evidence for Melara, Taylor, and Johnson to stand trial for both murders, the robbery, and the attempted robbery.

It does not appear that a trial date has yet been set.

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