Ernest Aguirre, 27, was a Latino male whose life ended in a targeted shooting in Cudahy, California, on February 25, 2020. Shortly before 3 p.m., Aguirre was walking along Clara Street near Elizabeth Learning Center with his girlfriend, Jasmine Godinez. According to testimony later presented in court, the couple encountered a friend, and Aguirre stopped near the gate of an apartment complex to speak with that person while Godinez continued several feet ahead and waited. Minutes later, as Aguirre began walking back toward her, Adrian Macias approached in his direction. Godinez testified that Macias passed extremely close to her while carrying a black semiautomatic handgun with both hands, then opened fire on Aguirre.
Aguirre was carrying a paint can and had a pocketknife attached to his waistband, but the prosecution's evidence described no confrontation immediately preceding the gunfire. Once the shooting began, Aguirre ducked, turned and ran across the street toward the school. Macias pursued him while continuing to fire. Godinez screamed for the shooting to stop and recalled hearing six shots. When the gunfire ended, she ran across the street and found Aguirre unresponsive on the sidewalk. Medical evidence established that he had been struck in the upper thigh and in the back of the head, with the head wound causing his death. Surveillance evidence documenting the attack was later shown to the jury and corroborated portions of Godinez's account.
The killing immediately disrupted the surrounding neighborhood. Elizabeth Learning Center, which serves students from pre-kindergarten through high school, was placed on lockdown as sheriff's deputies secured the area. Students were eventually released under modified dismissal procedures with law-enforcement assistance. Early investigators reported that the shooter had approached on foot wearing a hooded sweatshirt, fired repeatedly, and then entered the passenger side of a light-colored sedan that escaped westbound on Clara Street. Authorities said at the time that the attack appeared to have specifically targeted Aguirre, although investigators had not yet publicly identified the shooter or established a motive.
The case remained under investigation until Adrian Macias was arrested on February 1, 2021, nearly a year after the killing. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detectives interviewed Macias twice following his arrest. During the first interview, Macias denied knowing Aguirre and denied involvement in the shooting. He initially maintained those denials during a second interview, but his account changed as detectives continued questioning him. Macias eventually acknowledged knowing Aguirre by the nickname "Peewee" and admitted that he had recognized him before approaching and shooting him. Macias told detectives that Aguirre lived nearby and claimed there had been serious hostility between them before the killing.
Macias offered investigators a motive rooted in that alleged history. He claimed that Aguirre had previously tried to shoot him and that earlier encounters had left him feeling threatened. Macias maintained that he had not gone out that afternoon specifically searching for Aguirre and instead happened to see him. Nevertheless, Macias admitted that after recognizing Aguirre, he got out of a vehicle already armed with a gun, walked toward him and began firing. When Aguirre fled, Macias chased after him and continued shooting. Macias told detectives that the shooting stopped only because the firearm jammed, after which he fled the area. The prosecution later relied heavily on these admissions in arguing that the killing was intentional and premeditated rather than a spontaneous act of self-defense.
Prosecutors charged Macias with murder and alleged that he personally used a firearm in committing the crime. At trial, the jury also heard the defense theory reflected in Macias's statements that he had feared Aguirre because of their alleged prior encounters. The judge instructed jurors on imperfect self-defense, a doctrine that could have supported a lesser manslaughter finding if Macias actually but unreasonably believed he faced imminent deadly danger. The jury rejected that theory. It convicted Macias of first-degree murder and found the firearm allegation true. The trial court separately found aggravating circumstances proven beyond a reasonable doubt, including circumstances involving great violence and violent conduct indicating a serious danger to society.
On September 13, 2023, Macias was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum parole period of 25 years for the first-degree murder, with an additional consecutive 10-year term imposed for the firearm enhancement. Macias appealed, arguing in part that the evidence did not sufficiently establish premeditation and deliberation and that the conviction should therefore be reversed or reduced to second-degree murder. He argued that the encounter was unexpected and that his actions resulted from fear, adrenaline and impulsiveness rather than reflection. The appellate court disagreed, emphasizing that Macias armed himself before approaching Aguirre, had described a preexisting motive arising from their alleged history, continued shooting while Aguirre ran away and stopped only after the gun jammed. The court concluded that those circumstances provided substantial evidence from which the jury could find a deliberate and premeditated killing.
Macias also attempted to raise post-conviction arguments concerning youthful brain development and impulsivity, but the appellate court determined that he had not presented an appealable issue on that basis and declined to disturb the judgment. On March 12, 2025, California's Second District Court of Appeal, Division Two, affirmed the conviction and sentence. Although the first reports of Aguirre's killing described Macias leaving in the passenger seat of a light-colored sedan, the appellate record identifies Macias alone as the defendant and does not identify the driver of that vehicle or describe an arrest, prosecution or conviction of another participant in connection with the getaway. The public court record therefore establishes Macias as the arrested shooter who was ultimately convicted and imprisoned for Aguirre's murder, while leaving the identity and legal status of any person who may have driven the fleeing sedan unresolved in the sources reviewed.
