Reward for Murderer of Baldwin Park Fast Food Worker

BALDWIN PARK, CA — A $55,000 reward was established for information that leads to the capture of a masked killer.

The 25-year-old fast-food worker, Juan Manuel Vidal. was shot at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 while working his shift at a Jack in the Box restaurant in the 9200 block of Flair Drive.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last Tuesday approved a $20,000 reward for information leading to the killer's arrest and prosecution. The city of El Monte later added $25,000, and Monday, the Jack in the Box franchisee where Vidal worked and the restaurant's corporate office each added $5,000.

The killer was wearing a Halloween mask and went into the restaurant intent on robbing it, Sheriff Jim McDonnell told reporters last week.

"According to witnesses and the camera surveillance from the scene, the suspect jumped over the front counter of the location, demanded money and then shot the victim almost immediately," McDonnell said.
The gunman, apparently panicked, fled without getting any money, and got into the passenger seat of a getaway vehicle that sped away.

County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who sponsored the county's reward motion, said Vidal was training to be a pharmacist tech and had gotten engaged to be married not long before he died.

His mother, Mary, wept as she appealed for help finding the culprit last week.

"That man has no heart," she said. "Somebody needs to let police know where he's at."

McDonnell said Vidal "was a young man on the right track, doing the right things, all of the right things, working, when this suspect came in and took his life."

A GoFundMe has been established for Vidalby his family.

Anyone with information on the shooting was asked to call sheriff's Detectives Adan Torres or Gustavo Carrillo, (323) 890-5500, or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

Image, courtesy GoFundMe, City News Service contributed to this report