A man who was on the lam for nearly 10 years before being arrested in Los Angeles was turned over Tuesday to authorities from Mexico, where he is wanted for allegedly killing an off-duty police officer, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported.
Federal agents transferred Flavio Camacho Hernandez, 39, to the custody of Mexican authorities at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego.
In July 2004, Hernandez was charged with first-degree murder in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. He and two accomplices allegedly gunned down Eleazar Castro-Lugo in Guasave after going to the victim’s home to confront him for defending another man in a fight earlier that day.
According to witnesses, Castro-Lugo told the assailants he was a police officer and wasn’t looking for trouble. They ignored his pleas and shot him four times at close range.
Three months ago, a federal task force learned that Hernandez might be living in the Los Angeles area. He was tracked to a home in South Los Angeles and arrested by deputy U.S. marshals June 4.
“The return of this fugitive murder suspect to Mexico to face justice is the direct result of the ongoing cooperation between U.S. law enforcement and our counterparts south of the border,” said David Jennings, field director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Los Angeles.
“Violent criminals who believe they can evade the law by fleeing to the U.S. should be on notice they will find no refuge here,” he said.
— City News Service