On the late morning of July 28, 2024, police responded to a call about a shooting in a South Phoenix neighborhood. In the area of 5th Avenue and Pima Street, officers discovered 17-year-old Aidan Apel, a White male, in the driver's seat of a vehicle. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds, and despite the efforts of paramedics who arrived at the scene, he was pronounced dead just after 11:30 a.m.
A friend later remembered him as someone who "had a good heart and was always checking up on how i was."
Investigators soon pieced together the events that led to the fatal shooting. They determined that two men, Agel Chan Ring and Nathan Da Ron James, had lured Apel to the location under the guise of buying marijuana from him. When Apel arrived and took the marijuana out of his car's center console, Ring shot him twice in the chest. After the shooting, Ring and James stole the marijuana, Apel’s phone, and a gun before fleeing the scene.
The initial investigation moved quickly. Witnesses at the scene were able to identify one of the suspects and pointed officers in the direction he had fled. Police located and arrested Agel Chan Ring in the vicinity shortly after the shooting. The search for the second suspect continued for months. Using evidence from witness statements, social media videos, cell phone records, and DNA, investigators identified Nathan Da Ron James as the other person involved. He was eventually located and arrested in Kansas City, Missouri.
Both men were prosecuted in connection with Aidan Apel’s murder. Agel Chan Ring, 19, and Nathan Da Ron James, 20, ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree murder under separate plea agreements. In February 2026, the case came to a close when they were sentenced. Ring received a 22-year prison sentence, while James was sentenced to 13 years.
