A former police officer from Costa Rica wanted for murder here was arrested in Newark, New Jersey, last week and extradited back to his homeland Saturday, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and news media.
Carlos Alberto Fernández, 40, was arrested without incident Jan16. The ex-policeman faces 18 years in Costa Rican prison for the Oct. 25, 2002, shooting of an unarmed robbery suspect fleeing in a car in Tres Ríos, east of San José.
Responding to a break-in call, Fernández sprayed the getaway car with an Uzi machine gun, injuring one of the two suspects in the arm and killing the other, according to the daily La Nación.
Fernández had escaped in February 2004 to the United States.
