Dmitry Sani, The Associated Press
SAN DIEGO — A suspect in a double homicide and a shooting at a strip club in central California’s San Diego has been arrested in Mexico, just over a week after authorities were tipped off by the public.
Luis Enrique Escobar, 43, was apprehended outside a Mexico City apartment Wednesday night. Escobar was charged after he and a second man, identified as Juan Pablo Aguilar, 19, were arrested earlier in the day by U.S. State Department officials, according to a statement by the Mexican Foreign Ministry.
Escobar was a senior figure in Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), the largest criminal organization in Mexico, U.S. Attorney R. Gil Kerlikowske said in a statement. He is accused in the deaths of two people and the wounding of several others at a nightclub on the outskirts of San Diego that prosecutors called the worst in the nation’s history.
The shooting occurred at around 10 p.m. on Aug. 29 at Villa Domingo, a high-end nightclub in the city’s Old Town district. Authorities believe both the shooter and victims were involved in some manner of extortion and were gunned down as they left the club, San Diego police chief Shelley Zimmerman said.
Escobar was arrested after he and Aguilar were arrested in central Mexico, the statement said.
It’s unclear if the two men have lawyers outside of Mexico, but Gonzalez said both men were expected shortly to enter a plea and that bail has not been set. Court records were not immediately available.
Escobar was a drug trafficker and has criminal convictions including homicide, extortion and narcotics trafficking, Gonzalez said. He is also accused of being involved in a shooting that occurred on the same day as the Villa Domingo shooting.
Escobar and Aguilar are believed to have traveled to Mexico after the deadly shooting, authorities said.
An online statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington said the men had been indicted on federal charges and that the case was being prosecuted in the Northern District of California.
Copyright Associated Press