News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Friday. November 8, 2024: The man accused of fatally shooting Cuban reggaeton star José Manuel Carbajal Zaldívar, known as El Taiger, was extradited to Miami-Dade County on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, following his arrest in New York.
Damian Valdez-Galloso, 49, was arrested in Brooklyn on Oct. 29 by federal marshals for failure to register as a sex offender, according to Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales. Valdez-Galloso is a convicted felon, previously convicted of sexually assaulting a minor in 2013.
Valdez-Galloso now faces charges of second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He is currently being held at the Turner Guilford Correctional Center on a $12,500 bond for tampering with evidence and failure to register as a sex offender, while bonds for additional charges are pending.
Zaldívar, 37, a popular reggaeton artist with over a million followers on Instagram and 385 million views on YouTube, was found shot to death in a car in Miami on October 3. After a month-long investigation, Miami detectives identified Valdez-Galloso as the suspected shooter, Morales reported.
According to an arrest report, around 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 3, Zaldívar was at a home in Hialeah when Valdez-Galloso opened the door and shot him in the head. Valdez-Galloso allegedly dragged Zaldívar into a 2023 Mercedes-Benz, cleaned the scene and changed his clothes before driving him to Northwest Ninth Avenue and Northwest 17th Street. First responders arrived about 45 minutes later and transported Zaldívar to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died on October 10.
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled the death a homicide. Valdez-Galloso fled to New York, where he was apprehended and reportedly gave a statement to officials about the incident. It remains unclear how he and Zaldívar were related.
