Police say they have arrested a 25-year-old Long Beach man for his alleged role in a deadly gang shooting in West Long Beach five years ago.
Miguel Gallardo has been wanted by police since June 2021 for the April 2, 2021, shooting on 19th Street near Canal Avenue. They alleged he was one of two men who killed 40-year-old Daniel Jacinto after chasing him from a nearby garage.
Gallardo was arrested on Tuesday at LAX, according to jail records. It wasn’t immediately clear why police found him there or how he had evaded them until now.
Nearly two years ago, a jury convicted a second alleged shooter, 19-year-old Vai Ho-Ching, of first-degree murder for killing Jacinto, but prosecutors believe Gallardo shot and severely wounded another man before handing off the gun to Ho-Ching, according to court records.
Prosecutors also allege that hours before the shooting, Gallardo spray-painted the name of the gang he belonged to on a wall in front of the garage where the shooting later unfolded.
A witness who was working on a car in the garage with Jacinto that night — and knew Ho-Ching — testified that Gallardo and Ho-Ching showed up at the garage roughly 30 minutes before the shooting to hang out.
Gallardo had a cast on his left foot and was allegedly holding a handgun while standing in the garage, according to the witness.
They left after a brief visit, but surveillance camera footage showed them returning to the garage shortly before the shooting.
Prosecutors allege that Gallardo shot a man several times inside the garage, then handed the gun to Ho-Ching, who chased Jacinto down on a bicycle and shot him to death.
The first victim was found with multiple gunshot wounds inside the garage and was rushed to a hospital in critical but stable condition.
Gallardo was charged on Tuesday with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder.
If convicted, Gallardo could face up to 25 years to life in prison. He was being held on $3.03 million bail.