Guilty plea entered in shooting death at concrete company
Correction: Efren Antonio Villarreal-Alvarado was 43 when he was killed. Previous versions of this story gave an incorrect age.
A former parolee charged with murder in the February 2014 shooting of a concrete company worker has pleaded guilty.
Donnie Lalonde, 35, is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 20 before Sedgwick County District Judge Christopher Magana. Court records show Lalonde pleaded guilty Sept. 4 to second-degree murder and aggravated robbery in connection with the death of 43-year-old Efren Antonio Villarreal-Alvarado, who was found alive but with a gunshot wound to the chest by co-workers who had arrived at Santana Concrete about 7:15 a.m. on Feb. 21, 2014.
Villarreal-Alvarado was in his truck in the parking lot of the company, 3665 W. McCormick, when he was shot. He died a short time later at a Wichita hospital.
Police have said robbery motivated the shooting.
Lalonde, who was originally charged with first-degree murder and aggravated robbery, entered his plea 10 days before his Sept. 14 jury trial was set to begin, according to court records and Dan Dillon, spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office. He remained in Sedgwick County Jail on Monday.
Another man charged in the death, 42-year-old Deon Nolan Hale, is facing jury trial in November on counts of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery. Hale, also a former parolee, goes by the name Auriel Huntstwobears.
Reach Amy Renee Leiker at 316-268-6644 or aleiker@wichitaeagle.com. Follow her on Twitter: @amyreneeleiker.
This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Guilty plea entered in shooting death at concrete company."