A man suspected of opening fire on a car in Hartford, Connecticut earlier this week and killing a 20-year-old woman and her 4-month-old son has been arrested in Puerto Rico and is awaiting extradition.
The shooting took place Tuesday afternoon when someone pulled up alongside another vehicle carrying Jessiah Mercado and Messiah Diaz and began shooting, WVIT reported. The driver of the car carrying Mercado and her son drove to Hartford Hospital, where the two were pronounced dead. A man in his 20s was also injured in the shooting and is expected to survive. The driver was not hurt.
Hartford police quickly identified 23-year-old Lance “Macho” Morales as the suspect in the shooting, and US Marshals tracked him to a home in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, where he was arrested on a fugitive warrant.
When he returns to Connecticut, he’ll be charged with murder with special circumstances, murder, assault, criminal attempt to commit assault, and criminal possession of a firearm.
Investigators have not said what connection, if any, Mercado and Morales have or how they knew he was the suspect in the shooting. According to WCVB, police had a vehicle model and license plate for the car the suspect was in when the shooting took place but said the suspect likely had access to other vehicles.
