An escaped California inmate who used to be sought after in reference to the death of the leader of an elite Mexican police unit used to be arrested after a weeklong manhunt, officers mentioned.
Cesar Hernandez, who used to be serving 80 years to existence for first-degree homicide sooner than escaping from custody in December, used to be arrested Thursday night time within the northern town of Tijuana. He used to be sought after for the taking pictures dying 33-year-old Abigail Esparza Reyes, the chief of the unit referred to as “Gringo Hunters,” which dedicates itself to arresting U.S. suspects who’re fugitives in Mexico. She used to be the pinnacle of the unit on the northern border state of Baja California.
Esparza Reyes died throughout a shootout on April 9 in Tijuana whilst the unit used to be looking to arrest Hernandez.
Mexican information shops, together with El Universal, reported that video surveillance confirmed Hernandez controlled to flee whilst operating nearly bare throughout the streets sooner than ducking beneath a tarp that used to be protecting a automobile. He emerged wearing a fluorescent inexperienced uniform – very similar to ones utilized by native visitors police – sooner than strolling away.
Stringer / REUTERS
“Those movements replicate the phenomenal intelligence and investigative paintings performed by way of body of workers from the State Lawyer Common’s Place of business, whose coordinated efforts, tactical research methods and information assortment made it imaginable to correctly find the individual arrested nowadays,” the Baja California prosecutor’s administrative center mentioned in a statement on social media Friday.
Officers in Mexico mentioned Hernandez is dealing with felony court cases and “his felony scenario will probably be made up our minds in line with the legislation.”
Hernandez, 34, used to be convicted of first-degree homicide and sentenced to 80 years to existence in jail, in step with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He used to be on his solution to Kern County Awesome Courthouse for an look sooner than a pass judgement on on Dec. 2, when he jumped out of the van and refrained from team of workers.
Esparza Reyes had led the regional staff of the unit for 8 years, wearing out greater than 400 operations aimed toward arresting U.S. fugitives who had fled to Mexico, Reuters reported, bringing up Mexican government.
In keeping with a profile at the workforce by way of the Washington Post, Esparza Reyes grew up in Tijuana and secretly sought after to be a police officer.