Mexican federal authorities will hold a man they arrested last Friday, who may be tied to the death of Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas, for forty days.
Tecate police detained Ernesto Parra Valenzuela in the vicinity of where Rosas was shot about five hours after Rosas died.
Mexican authorities say a witness, who is allegedly a member of a brutal human smuggling group and wanted by U.S. authorities for murder, fingered Parra as Rosas’ killer.
Mexican federal authorities are holding Parra to gather enough evidence to charge him. They are holding him on the grounds that he allegedly killed someone on foreign soil, violated Mexican gun laws, and has ties to organized crime.
Tecate police officials say Parra had a 9 mm pistol hidden in his clothing when they detained him. Mexican federal authorities say the gun is not a Border Patrol weapon, as other media reported. It is not clear if Parra’s weapon matches the crime scene. Ballistics test results have not been made public.
Tecate authorities say Parra was not injured when they found him. FBI officials said last Friday they believe one or more of the assailants was wounded when Rosas was shot, because of the amount of blood left at the scene.
Meanwhile, San Diego law enforcement authorities appear to be analyzing whether a man arrested on immigration charges in San Jose, a day after Rosas’ death, is tied to the killing. Court documents say a San Diego County Sheriff’s Deputy, who is on the FBI’s investigation team, was present when immigration officials interviewed Salvador Picaso Ambriz. San Diego and San Francisco Bay Area law enforcement investigators are referring all questions about Picaso to the FBI.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in the Bay Area says Picaso did not appear to be injured when he was arraigned on immigration charges in federal court on Monday morning. Court papers say Picaso was deported from Brownsville, Texas in 2003 and was removed from San Ysidro on Monday of last week. They believe Picaso then crossed the border again. Immigration officials say Picaso will most likely faces jail time for his immigration crimes.
The FBI says no suspect has been arrested or charged in the crime.
