Man who took part in Wichita teen’s 2019 killing ordered to serve more than 18 years

A Sedgwick County District Court judge on Thursday sent a Wichita man to prison for his role in a teen’s shooting death nearly four years ago.

Judge Tyler Roush ordered Eduardo Gallardo, 22, to serve 18 years, 10 months and pay $6,500 in restitution in the Aug. 4, 2019, killing of 17-year-old Ramiro Antonio Valdez Jr., said Dan Dillon, a spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office. In doing so, the judge denied a request from Gallardo to impose three years of probation or, alternatively, no more than eight years, four months in prison, court records show.

Gallardo pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, criminal discharge of a firearm and aggravated assault on March 27, Dillon said.

Valdez was a landscaper preparing to start his senior year at Wichita North High School when he was shot by someone in another vehicle as he drove east on Central around 2:35 a.m. Police have said Gallardo, the vehicle’s driver, pulled alongside Valdez’s truck while another man fired several rifle rounds at him in a shooting tied to a gang feud.

Valdez died from a gunshot wound to his back, according to his autopsy report. Two other teens in his truck weren’t hurt. Police have said the teens were driving in downtown before the shooting.