A manhunt launched Thursday by the El Paso Police Department ended just before 2 p.m. Friday afternoon when Doña Ana County Sheriff’s deputies took a murder suspect into custody.
Fernando Alonzo Alarcon, 31, was reportedly driving a silver 2005 Jeep Liberty with a flat tire on West Afton Road near the intersection of Camino Feliz in La Mesa when a sheriff’s deputy approached him en route to an unrelated 911 call. The deputy recognized the vehicle from a bulletin that was sent out to area law-enforcement agencies, asking for officers to be on the lookout for Alarcon and the Jeep he was known to be driving.
A warrant on charges of murder had been issued for Alarcon’s arrest, with bond set at $1 million. El Paso police had warned that Alarcon was considered to be armed and dangerous. At the time of his arrest in La Mesa, Alarcon reportedly had a rifle in the backseat of his Jeep.
Sheriff’s deputies transported Alarcon to the department’s main headquarters in Las Cruces to await detectives from El Paso.
After questioning, he was booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center where he is being held without bond, pending extradition.
Information from Dona Ana County