The Miami-Dade Police have released the arrest report for Damian Valdez-Galloso, the sole suspect in the murder of Cuban reggaeton artist José Manuel Carbajal Zaldívar (El Taiger).
The document—although brief and with some gaps—specifies that El Taiger arrived at Damian's house at approximately 5:24 a.m. on October 3rd.
The report does not specify the singer's demeanor upon arriving at the home of the accused, nor does it clarify the nature of the interaction between them prior to the shooting.
The statement only reveals that from inside the house, Damian shot the victim in the forehead.
Immediately afterward, the accused exited through a back door of the residence, dragged El Taiger's body by the ankles to a Mercedes Benz SUV, where he loaded it himself and left it there.
He then proceeded to clean the crime scene and, after deeming that he had erased the main traces, Damian changed his clothes and set off towards the vicinity of the trauma center at Jackson Memorial Hospital around 6:00 AM.
The police received an emergency call made by Damian, and the authorities arrived around 6:45 a.m.
Once at the scene, the police found El Taiger's body bleeding from the head near the intersection of Northwest 9th Avenue and 17th Street in Miami.
Between the time El Taiger arrived at Damian's house and when the body was discovered by the police, it was not hours, as initially thought, but just under an hour and a half.
There was enough time, however, for a gunshot wound of that nature to render the victim's recovery impossible.
The reggaeton artist was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he remained in critical condition for a week before passing away on October 10, which sparked a wave of shock and mourning among his followers.
This Wednesday, Damian arrived in Miami after being extradited from New York, and on the very next day, he had his first appearance in the Miami-Dade criminal court before Judge Mindy S. Glazer, who denied him bail.
In a live broadcast on Facebook, Univision journalist Mario Vallejo clarified this Thursday that there is no evidence that anyone assisted Damian in moving the body after the shooting.
Vallejo made additional notes, including the observation that the fact the pants of El Taiger were at his knees—prompting rumors of assault or abuse that were denied by the police—could have been due to Damian's effort to drag the body, which may have caused the reggaeton artist's pants to slip down during the maneuver.
The spokesperson stated that on Wednesday, the police revisited the crime scene and recovered evidence from Damian's house following the interview with the suspect.
Mario Vallejo stated that he has tried to obtain an explanation from the police regarding the possibility that a crime was being committed in Damián's house at the moment El Taiger arrived. This could have led to Damián not calling the police to intervene in El Taiger's behavior, which, although the report does not clarify, apparently was not "friendly."
However, the journalist expressed doubt that Damian's lawyer could argue that the shooting was in "self-defense," given that El Taiger was unarmed.
The communicator also referred to the lack of evidence that the Prosecutor's Office has to classify the murder as "premeditated," which resulted in the proposed charge being second-degree murder—carrying a sentence of up to 20 years in prison—rather than first-degree murder, which involves premeditation and is punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
"It seems that it was all part of an outburst, a clash between both individuals," concluded Vallejo, who noted that, nonetheless, if Damian's guilt is confirmed, he faces many years in prison, as in addition to the murder of El Taiger, he has a lengthy criminal record.
Valdez-Galloso faces three charges: second-degree murder, tampering with evidence, and possession of a firearm.
Profile of the accused and criminal history
Damian Valdez-Galloso, known by the alias "El Narra," has a documented criminal history spanning over a decade.
Between 2007 and 2018, he accumulated six convictions, including two cases for engaging in sexual relations with minors aged 16 to 17, and three for failing to register as a sex offender.
In addition, in 2018 he was convicted of grand theft, and he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2015 and 2019.
He was released from prison for the last time in September 2020, and in 2021, he faced a charge of grand theft in Miami-Dade County.
Records show that, as a convicted felon, Valdez-Galloso lived in Hialeah as a registered sex offender. The last reported address of the suspect was a coral-colored house located at the intersection of SE 5th Street and 5th Avenue.
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