A condemned murderer of the County of Los Angeles who escaped from the guard in California, then fled to Mexico – where he would have shot a police officer who was trying to apprehend him – was arrested in Tijuana this week, the Mexican authorities announced.
The office of the attorney general of the state of Baja California announced that Cesar Hernandez, 35, had been captured Thursday in a special operation nicknamed “Gacela”, which means Gazelle. He was sought in Mexico in connection with the death by ball of April 9 of the Mexican police commander Abigail Esparza Reyes, which took place during an attempted arrest in Tijuana.
Cesar Hernandez escaped from the guard in December when he was transported to Delano for an appearance in court.
(California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
Reyes was a member of an unit of specialized investigation known as “Gringo Hunters”, who works to apprehend the fugitives who fled in Mexico in the United States, according to Reuters reports. The authorities told Wire Service that Reyes had managed the regional unit team for eight years and carried out more than 400 operations.
“Abigail’s life will be honored and his death will not remain unpunished,” said Baja California Marina Del Pilar Ávila Olmeda in Spanish in a state-of-the-of-the-term press release this month.
In 2019, Hernandez was sentenced to 80 years old for killing a man outside a southeast bar in Los Angeles, a second strike attack, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Hernandez escaped custody in December when he was transported to an appearance to the upper court of Kern in Delano, according to the CDCR. After arriving at the courthouse, he jumped from the van, escaped the staff and fled the area on foot.
Despite the major efforts to apply the law to capture it, he went to Mexico.
Hernandez “had been on the run of justice in Mexico and the United States, making him an absolute priority for the application of laws,” said the office of the Attorney General of Basse-California in a press release in Spanish.
“In Baja in California, if you break the law, there are consequences,” concluded the press release.
The authorities have not yet announced whether Hernandez will be prosecuted in Mexico or California.
According to the CDCR, 99% of offenders who left an institution, a camp or a community program without authorization since 1977 have been arrested.
California Daily Newspapers
