Two men sentenced for Ricky Galvez murder

DOWNEY — Two Montebello men were sentenced today for killing Downey Police Officer Ricardo Galvez in the police station parking lot five years ago, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.

Steven Knott, 23, was sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison, while Jeremy Anthony Alvarez, 26, was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.

In March, Knott pleaded guilty to one count each of first-degree murder and attempted robbery with the personal use of a firearm for the killing of Galvez, 29. Alvarez pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree murder and attempted robbery for the officer’s murder.

The defendants also admitted an attempted murder in Montebello in October 2015, a take-over robbery of two victims at a Bellflower cell phone store and a street robbery in Paramount shortly before the murder of Galvez on Nov. 18, 2015. 

Knott also was convicted of shooting at a dwelling in South Gate in September 2015.

The pair admitted multiple firearms enhancements and allegations that the crimes were committed in association with members of a criminal street gang.

Galvez, a former U.S. Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq and a five-year veteran of the Downey Police Department, was dressed in plain clothes after working with the department’s K-9 team when he was fatally shot as he sat in his personal car in the police station parking lot, prosecutors said.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys Michael Blake and Mary Murray of the Crimes Against Peace Officers Division.