A 22-year-old man is facing a first-degree murder charge in connection with a fatal shooting in Richgrove, just four months after he walked out of juvenile custody for a previous killing. Jacob Ramirez Aguilar was arrested in Delano on October 13 after investigators say he shot and killed an adult man following a brief verbal altercation shortly after midnight on September 27.
The Tulare County District Attorney's office announced the charges against Aguilar, saying prosecutors allege the killing was committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang, according to a statement from the Tulare County District Attorney. Aguilar is charged with first-degree murder carrying that special-circumstance allegation, and if convicted, he faces life in prison, the district attorney's office said. Additional allegations in the case include personally discharging a firearm, numerous prior strike convictions, and engaging in violent conduct, according to GV Wire.
Deputies say they tracked Aguilar down using surveillance footage and witness descriptions, according to ABC30, which identified the victim as Edgar Sotelo. Other accounts of the case, including the district attorney's own release, describe the victim only as an adult male, so that identification has not been confirmed across all reporting. KMPH Fox 26 reported that Aguilar is being held without bail.
A Killing Months After Release
What's drawing added scrutiny to the case is Aguilar's history. He has a prior juvenile murder conviction tied to a December 2020 robbery and fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner in Wuakena, the same report from GV Wire's reporting states. Prosecutors said at the time that Aguilar was not the shooter in that earlier case, but he was still, per the same account, 16 years old and involved in the incident.
During a 2022 transfer hearing, Aguilar pleaded to gang murder and robbery charges and received the maximum juvenile custody term allowed: seven years. But that sentence didn't run its full course. A court granted a sentence modification, and he was released from juvenile custody in May 2026, the outlet reported — placing his release just four months before the Richgrove shooting he's now accused of committing.
Not Guilty Plea, Next Court Date Set
Aguilar pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in Tulare County Superior Court, the same GV Wire report notes, and he remains in custody without bail. A preliminary hearing conference has been scheduled for October 23 in Tulare County Superior Court, just days from now.
No booking record, criminal complaint or court docket has been made public to independently verify the full charging document, the exact special-circumstance language, or the specifics of the firearm and prior-strike allegations beyond what prosecutors and reporters have described. The identity of Aguilar's defense attorney, along with any statement from the defense, has not been reported.
