MIAMI, Fla.: Fitness influencer Khuslen Khan was arrested Monday, October 12, after investigators accused him of shooting and pistol-whipping an Uber Eats driver who returned to a Miami-Dade apartment complex hoping to get his girlfriend’s phone number. Khan, whose legal name is Khuslen Saruultuya, faces an attempted felony murder charge that carries the weight of the case against him.
According to the arrest report cited by WSVN, the driver delivered food to the complex near Dadeland Mall around 2:35 a.m. and struck up a brief conversation with a woman outside the lobby. He came back roughly 50 minutes later looking for her, could not find her, and was walking to his vehicle when Saruultuya pulled up in a gray Corvette and pointed a handgun at him.
Investigators say Saruultuya ordered the driver to lie on the ground, then fired a shot that grazed his right buttock. While the man stayed down, Saruultuya allegedly struck the back of his head with the gun, opening a two-inch wound, then pressed the weapon to his head with the words “I am going to kill you.” The woman pleaded “Babe, please stop!” and the driver escaped, driving himself to South Miami Hospital.
The 33-year-old appeared before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer on Tuesday, where the charges were read in full: attempted felony murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, plus a separate case of nine drug-related counts after sheriff’s deputies searching his apartment reported finding pills including oxycodone in plain view. Dexerto reported that Miami-Dade court records list both cases against him.
The investigation closed fast. Need To Know reported that investigators traced the Corvette’s registration after a witness supplied the plate, and the driver later picked Saruultuya out of a photo lineup. Deputies arrested him at his apartment about a mile from the scene, according to the complaint viewed by People.
RealHacker News reported that his attorney, Gennaro Cariglio Jr., filed a written not-guilty plea on October 13 and requested a jury trial. A custody check on October 14 listed him at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. He remained held without bond on the attempted murder count.
Khan built his following on fitness content, with about 17,000 Instagram followers tracking his training life before the account went private, according to Us Weekly. In a 2015 Wire Magazine interview, he described modeling, training clients and selling diet and workout plans with a friend.
The case adds to a grim run of influencer-related arrests Hypefresh has covered this year, from the fitness influencer and her date fatally shot after a podcast confession to Florida influencer Beverly Slaughter’s arrest after a crash that killed an unborn baby and the influencer arrested over a needle prank stabbing.
Prosecutors have not announced a trial date. The driver survived and was treated at the hospital, and the affidavit states that after his arrest Saruultuya told deputies the firearm used in the incident was in a personal bag he believed was still inside his residence.
