Final suspect arrested in Brian Terry murder case
Mexican law enforcement apprehends last suspect in Border Patrol agent's death; William La Jeunesse reports from Los Angeles.
Mexican law enforcement officers last weekend arrested the man believed to be the final fugitive from the “rip crew” that engaged in a 2010 gunfight between Border Patrol agents that resulted in the death of agent Brian Terry.
Jesus Rosario Favela Astorga was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the killing of Terry.
"The arrest of Favela Astorga resulted from the unwavering commitment of the United States and our law enforcement partners in Mexico to bring to justice those responsible for the murder of Agent Brian Terry, who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving his country," Alana Robinson, the acting U.S. attorney, said in a statement.
Terry was killed on Dec. 14, 2010 in a gunfight between Border Patrol agents and members of a five-man cartel "rip crew," which regularly patrolled the desert north of Nogales, Ariz., looking for drug dealers to rob.
The agent's death exposed Operation Fast and Furious, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operation in which the federal government allowed criminals to buy guns in Phoenix-area shops with the intention of tracking them once they made their way into Mexico.
But the agency lost track of more than 1,400 of the 2,000 guns they allowed smugglers to buy. Two of those guns were found at the scene of Terry's killing.
The operation set off a political firestorm, and then-Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress after he refused to divulge documents for a congressional investigation.
Four members of the "rip crew" have already been sentenced to jail time in the U.S. Manual Osorio-Arellanes was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in February 2014.
In October 2015, Ivan Soto-Barraza and Jesus Sanchez-Meza were convicted by a federal jury of nine different charges, including first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery.
That same month, Rosario Rafael Burboa-Alvarez, accused of assembling the "rip crew," was sentenced to 27 years in prison after striking a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Fox News' William William Lajeunesse contributed to this report
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