LA County

$20K Reward Offered to Find Suspect Who Killed Jack in the Box Employee

"(The suspect) needs to pay for all the pain and suffering that he’s caused to so many people," the victim's mother said.

A $20,000 reward was announced Wednesday to help generate leads that will lead to information regarding the murder of a Jack in the Box employee last month.

Juan Manuel Vidal, 25, was shot and killed by a masked robber Oct. 21 in El Monte. Police responded to the fast food restaurant after they received a call regarding an armed robbery. They found Vidal unresponsive and took him to a nearby hospital, where he later died. 

Chair of the LA County Board of Supervisors Hilda L. Solis and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department announced the reward Wednesday morning during a press conference.

“I urge anyone with any information to please come forward, and help us apprehend those involved in this criminal, criminal activity,” Solis said.

The reward was approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors and the City of El Monte.

“We need the public’s help to be able to identify this individual to hold him accountable for what he did, and to prevent him from hurting anyone else,” Sheriff Jim McDonnell said.

Vidal’s mother, Mary Smay, tearfully asked anyone with information on her son's murder to alert police. 

"(The suspect) needs to pay for all the pain and suffering that he’s caused to so many people; not only me but so many people in El Monte and people who loved my son," Smay said. "That man has no heart."

Vidal was a recent graduate from the United Education Institute College with ambitions to become a pharmacy technician. He had also recently gotten engaged.

Anyone with any information regarding Vidal’s killing is encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500 or send an anonymous tip to the LA Regional Crime Stoppers.

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