MEXICO CITY — A suspect in the 2012 slaying of a youth soccer coach in New York City fatally shot two Mexican federal agents who were trying to detain him, setting off a search by police and troops that led to his capture a day later, officials said Thursday.
MEXICO CITY — A suspect in the 2012 slaying of a youth soccer coach in New York City fatally shot two Mexican federal agents who were trying to detain him, setting off a search by police and troops that led to his capture a day later, officials said Thursday.
Orlando Orea is charged In New York with second-degree murder for allegedly slashing 25-year-old Michael Jones to death in Manhattan’s Union Square. Jones worked in the New York Red Bulls system.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said two federal agents were trying to serve a provisional extradition warrant for Orea on Wednesday in the central state of Puebla when he opened fire on them.
The office said federal and state agents and marines then launched a hunt for Orea, including support from aircraft. He was arrested without a struggle Thursday at a home in the rural town of Acatlan de Osorio in Puebla state. He had two guns in his possession, officials said.
The Attorney General’s Office did not say whether Orea might be tried first in Mexico in the detectives’ killing. Mexico and the United States have an agreement under which a suspect can be tried in one country and extradited for trial in the other, before serving a sentence in either.
Jones, who was from Liverpool, England, was slashed in the neck and torso and his ear was sliced off in the 2012 incident.
Orea narrowly escaped from the U.S. afterward. Authorities have said he bought a plane ticket to Mexico in 2012 just before being put on a no-fly list.
Orea allegedly left a note with a brother in New York apologizing. Police have said part of the note read: “I love you guy very much. I hope you can forgive me.” It closed with, “I’m sorry.”
