TIJUANA, Mexico (KGTV) — A California inmate is on the run, wanted in connection with the death of a Mexican police commander in Tijuana, who was killed in a shootout with the suspect on Wednesday.
The female agent killed was part of a task force that hunts U.S. fugitives south of the border.
The shootout happened Wednesday in Tijuana in a neighborhood about 15 miles south of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The accused killer had been on the run since December.
Abigail Esparza was identified as the commander. She was featured in an ABC News Nightline episode back in 2024, when her team successfully arrested a man in Tijuana charged with murder.
On Wednesday, Esparaza and her team were reportedly trying to arrest a man, identified by ABC News as Cesar Hernandez, an inmate who escaped custody in Kern County back in December. He was serving 80 years to life for first-degree murder.
Esparza was the commander of a special unit often referred to as 'Gringo Hunters'.
"The term gringo hunters obviously is a term specifically for those fleeing the U.S., Americans, south," says John Muffler, a retired chief inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service.
"Certainly, kicking in doors and chasing the worst of the worst comes with a very high degree, as we see here in this case, sadly, of danger," says Muffler.
Muffler says U.S. Marshals work hand in hand with this elite Mexican police unit when looking for a fugitive since it's their jurisdiction and they know the communities where these suspects might be hiding.
"Whether it's confidential informants or those people who are friendly with law enforcement there, they're gonna know that," says Muffler.
The retired Marshal was also in the Nightline episode that featured Esparza. He never met her, but he spoke to the Nightline production team on Thursday about the commander's death.
"They're broken up, heartbroken, depressed, over hearing the news," says Muffler.
Cesar Hernandez was able to get away again after Wednesday's shootout and is once again on the run.
