3 San Bernardino Men Held in Buena Park Mini-Mart Murder of Maher Yousef

Three San Bernardino men have been taken into custody for the July 1 slaying of Maher Yousef, the 24-year-old La Mirada resident gunned down at a Buena Park gas station, police announced this morning.

“After an extensive investigation by Buena Park Police detectives,” 33-year-old Jeffrey Tuli, Aaron Vermont Jackson, 35, and 32-year-old Dejon Vincent Griffin have been arrested on suspicion of homicide, according to police Sgt. Mike Lovchik.

Tuli, who is also suspected of being involved in a string of robberies in other jurisdictions, was arrested in Riverside, Jackson was popped in Las Vegas, and Griffin was taken into custody in Lakewood, Washington, said Lovchik, who added extradition hearings loom for those detained out of state.

The investigation was aided by surveillance video from the Mobil Mini-Mart gas station at Beach and Artesia boulevards, where Yousef was shot during a robbery. Lovchik has said the suspects apparently followed Yousef and a passenger to the gas station from a nearby check cashing business where both worked.


As the video showed, Yousef was sitting in the driver seat of a car waiting for his partner to come out of the mini-mart when he was approached by three African American men who each brandished weapons. 

As a brief struggle broke out between Yousef and one gunman from the driver window, a second hooded gunman approached the passenger side open door and shot the driver in the head from close range.

All three suspects then ran off northbound.

Nothing was taken and Yousef's passenger was unharmed.

Yousef later died at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

With the arrests, Buena Park detectives have turned the case over to the Orange County District Attorney’s office for likely charges, Lovchik said. 

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