Birthday Shooting Suspect Busted Over the Border

A man wanted by the San Diego Police Department for a murder in March was arrested Monday night in Tijuana.

Marcella Peraza, 21, was shot and killed March 7 while attending a birthday party in the 6800 block of Brooklyn Avenue in the Encanto neighborhood of San Diego. A 26-year-old man was also shot but survived.

Police named Christopher Anthony Sanchez, 19, as the suspect in the shooting. Sanchez was arrested in Tijuana after Crime Stoppers got a tip he was living at a residence in the border city,  according to police.

San Diego officers relayed information on Sanchez's whereabouts to Mexican authorities, who were able to locate him and arrest him Monday. The arrest was a collaborative effort by the San Diego Fugitive Task Force, the San Diego Police Department, the California Department of Justice and Mexican authorities.

"These are the results of the outstanding cooperation between Mexican and American law enforcement agencies," said George Venables, the U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of California. "Fugitives can no longer flee to Mexico and expect to not get captured.”

"I'm very grateful to them," said Peraza's mother, Lisa Ortiz. "I feel like they took it personally and they did their job." 

Ortiz said she will be at Sanchez's future court proceedings and that she needs to see this through to the end -- and that she is willing to grant forgiveness.

"I do want to see justice done, but if I had one wish for him, I think it would be that he finds a better way to turn his life around, and finds a better way, and gets support," Ortiz said.

Sanchez was transferred to U.S. authorities and is currently being held on first degree murder charges. He also faces charges of attempted murder and a weapons charge.

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