A San Pedro man who kill an off-duty Monterey Park police officer who refused to give up his car outside a LA Fitness gym in Downey was sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 5, to life without the possibility of parole.
Carlos Daniel Delcid, 24, killed Officer Gardiel Solorio, 26, on Aug. 8, 2022.
Delcid was convicted by jury in May of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Solorio, which took place during an attempted carjacking at the Downey Landing Shopping Center. The jury also convicted Delcid of shooting at in inhabited vehicle, being a felon in possession of a firearm and a separate robbery charge.
After about a week of testimony, jurors needed roughly 40 minutes to reach their verdict.
The shooting was captured by the dashcam of a Lyft delivery driver’s car, parked near where Solorio had parked his Dodge Charger on the east side of a lot outside the gym where he planned to work out.
Also, the moments leading up to and after the shooting were captured on the gym’s surveillance cameras.
Delcid was convicted during a retrial of his case.
All sides had agreed not to include Solorio’s status as a police officer during the trial as it did not factor into the crimes. But during the first trial one witness mistakenly made mentioned of a Monterey Park police officer before a prosecutor cut him off.
Later in that trial, a recording from a jailhouse conversation included “off-duty,” leading Judge Joseph R. Porras to believe that at least one member of the jury could have gathered that Solorio was a cop. A mistrial was declared.
Prosecutors said Delcid and two others were riding in a Honda Accord looking for a car to steal when they spotted Solorio’s Charger traveling through the parking lot at the Downey shopping center.
After Solorio parked, the Accord stopped just past Solorio’s Charger.
Delcid got out of the passenger side and walked up to the driver’s side of Solorio’s car. Prosecutors say that’s when Delcid pulled the gun and demanded the car.
Solorio refused and put the car in reverse in an attempt to flee, but Delcid fired five shots, four deemed fatal, according to a medical examiner.
“Did I (expletive) up?” Delcid asked when he got back into the Accord, co-defendant Gerardo Magallanes recalled during a recorded jail conversation.
The dashcam from the Lyft car captured the Accord’s license plate, and detectives learned it was registered to a Long Beach home, prosecutors said.
Delcid and the driver of the Accord, Christopher Sanchez, were arrested that night, while Magallanes, who was in the backseat at the time of the shooting, was arrested three days later.
Magallanes admitted to handing Delcid the gun before the shooting, and a mask and gray hoodie that Delcid wore during the shooting were found in the car, prosecutors said.
Delcid’s attorney argued that the shooting was either second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter and said Delcid was under the influence during the attack, having used marijuana, Xanax and alcohol.
Magallanes took a plea deal to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 24 years. Sanchez pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and received 11 years in state prison.