American man wanted for two fatal shootings, including 20-year-old Washington girl is captured in Mexico after decade on the run as one of FBI’s 10 most wanted
- Santiago Villalba Mederos was nabbed in Mexico last Friday and turned over to the FBI
- The arrest took place in the Mexico State municipality of Tenancingo on the same day the Tacoma, Washington, native celebrated his 29th birthday
- Villalba Mederos was placed on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list in 2017
- He was sought for the February 2010 murder of Camile Love. He also wounded her then 18-year-old brother in the shooting
- Villalba Mederos was also allegedly involved in a shooting in March 2010 in which a 21-year-old innocent bystander died after Villalba Mederos fired a shot
An American who spent 10 years on the run from the FBI after allegedly murdering two people in the state of Washington has been arrested in Mexico.
Santiago Villalba Mederos was apprehended in the Mexico State municipality of Tenancingo last Friday, the same day he was celebrating his 29th birthday.
He was sought for his involvement in two deadly shootings that took place in Tacoma in 2010, according to the FBI, which listed Villalba Mederos on its top 10 most wanted list in 2017.
After 10 years on the run from authorities in Tacoma, Washington, United States-born Santiago Villalba Mederos was apprehended in the Mexico State municipality of Tenancingo last Friday. The 29-year-old is linked to two murders in 2010, including the killing of 20-year-old Camile Love
Camille Love (left) was shot dead in February 2010 after Santiago Villalba Mederos and several other gang members confused the vehicle she was in for a rival gang member’s. Her brother, Joshua (right) was wounded
Camille Love was shot dead February 7, 2010 while she sat a car at traffic light in Tacoma, Washington
Santiago Villalba Mederos was apprehended in the Mexico State municipality of Tenancingo last Friday, the same day he turned 29
Villalba Mederos, who was also known as ‘Pucho,’ allegedly fired several shots into a vehicle that was stopped at a traffic light in February 7, 2010, killing Camille Love, 20, and wounding her brother, Joshua, then 18.
Authorities believe Villalba Mederos had mistaken the color of the siblings’ vehicle when he opened fire.
‘He just comes from behind us and gets in the lane next to us, speeds up to us, gets beside us and he just started shooting,’ brother Joshua Love told Washington’s Most Wanted in 2010, according to Q13 News in Tacoma. ‘She wasn’t moving. I grabbed the side of her face and I was like, Cami, Cami. She had a blank look on her face.’
In March 2010, he was involved in a fight and fired one shot at a group of people, including an innocent 21-year-old man who died from the gunshot wound.
Villalba Mederos was a member of the Eastside Lokotes Sureños gang that is based out of Tacoma’s east side, authorities said.
Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Villalba Mederos on September 30, 2016 after he was accused of ‘unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.’
The FBI had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to Mederos’ capture.
‘This arrest is result of good old-fashioned detective work and a great collaborative effort with our federal and international partners,’ said FBI Special Agent in Charge. Raymond Duda. ‘Hopefully the families of Mederos’ victims will finally see a resolution for these senseless acts.’