Background: The Ventura County Government Center Hall of Justice (Google Maps). Inset: Aaron Jabezz Holmes (Ventura County District Attorney”s Office).
Aaron Jabezz Holmes, aged 30, has been sentenced to over 50 years in prison after he pleaded no contest to the first-degree murder of Angel Diaz, a 25-year-old victim, back in 2015. The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office issued a press release confirming Holmes admitted to “personally and intentionally” firing the weapon that led to Diaz’s death. The release also detailed the crime spree Holmes engaged in on April 30, 2015, which culminated in the tragic incident.
Prosecutors revealed that Holmes, then 19, was accompanied by four others—comprising two adults and two minors—on a night marked by violence. Before the murder of Diaz, Holmes had initially planned a robbery but encountered Diaz first. That evening, Diaz was seated in his truck outside a doughnut shop, enjoying his meal. He opted to dine in his vehicle to avoid disturbing his family after returning from a late work shift.
Holmes approached Diaz with a loaded firearm, tapping on the truck’s driver-side window. As Diaz attempted to flee by engaging the gears, Holmes fired a fatal shot through the window. Diaz’s vehicle then crashed into the doughnut shop as he succumbed to the gunshot.
Prior to confronting Diaz, Holmes had already targeted other individuals, including a driver he labeled an “enemy,” whom he shot at, and a group of teenagers rehearsing a dance routine in a parking lot.
Before Holmes got to Diaz, he targeted other random people, including a driver he identified as an “enemy” and shot at, and a group of teenagers practicing a dance routine in a parking lot.
Holmes pleaded no contest to first-degree murder in September 2025. He was sentenced to 54 years to life in prison, with the possibility of parole when he is around 44 years old.
