On a late Sunday afternoon in Sunnyside, Washington, the life of 28-year-old Hispanic male Victor Javier Ramos was tragically cut short. On January 31, 2021, at approximately 4:15 p.m., Ramos was shot in the chest in what police described as a drive-by shooting in the 1200 block of Roosevelt Court. Emergency services responded, and Ramos was rushed to Astria Sunnyside Hospital, but he ultimately succumbed to his wound.
Witnesses at the scene reported that a passenger in a passing vehicle fired multiple shots, striking both Ramos and the house he was in front of. The residence was hit at least four times, and three other people were inside at the time of the shooting, though they were unharmed.
The investigation into the homicide led authorities to identify two suspects: Adrian Bueno, 30, as the driver of the vehicle, and Francisco Rudy Gallardo, 43, as the alleged shooter. Court documents indicated that Bueno was a member of the Sureño street gang and that Gallardo was an associate of the same gang. While police stated that Ramos met the criteria to be documented as a gang member, his family disputed this claim. Following the shooting, Bueno fled to Mexico but turned himself in to U.S. Border Patrol officers in Yuma, Arizona, in August 2021. Gallardo, however, remains at large with a warrant issued for his arrest.
In August 2022, Adrian Bueno faced legal consequences for his role in the death of Victor Ramos. He entered an Alford plea to a charge of second-degree manslaughter. This type of plea allowed him to maintain his innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to likely secure a conviction at trial. Initially, Bueno was charged with first and second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, and a drive-by shooting. As part of a plea agreement, these more severe charges were dropped. A Yakima County Superior Court judge sentenced Bueno to seven and a half years in prison, a term that fell within the standard range for the charge given his criminal history. The victim's family expressed their desire for a longer sentence, but the judge followed the agreement reached by the attorneys.
