BISBEE — Federal and local law enforcement officials recently captured a Mexican man suspected of killing a Douglas man and two Mexicans in Agua Prieta, Sonora, on April 10.

Jose Jesus Guerrero, 38, is accused of kidnapping and murdering Alejandro “Alex” Abril, 19, an American, as well as a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, both from Mexico.

Guerrero was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents without incident at a local gas station Wednesday morning, according to a press release. He was turned over to Mexican authorities.

The arrest came after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol agent assigned to the Cochise County Border Violence Group received information about the suspect’s possible whereabouts.

Based upon that lead, ICE agents worked with the Douglas Police Department to set up surveillance at the Express Stop gas station on 10th Street, where Guerrero was captured a short time later.

Abril’s body was found in an unspecified area of Agua Prieta. He had been strangled and left in a vehicle along with the other victims, according to police. His family has informed Douglas police that he may have had some ties to information sharing of a drug- and human-smuggling organization.

Following the killings, the Mexican government notified the U.S. Marshal’s Service that Guerrero was a suspect.The U.S. Marshal’s Service then alerted border law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for him.

Guerrero is a previously deported aggravated felon with a long history of criminal violations tied to drug and human smuggling in the U.S., according to the press release.

ICE agents reinstated Guerrero’s previous deportation order and notified the U.S. Marshal’s Service’s Mexican investigative liaison of his impending return to Mexico.

When ICE agents returned Guerrero to Mexico at the Douglas Port of Entry, agents from Mexico’s Federal Agency of Investigations immediately took him into custody on the outstanding murder warrant.

In the release, Matt Allen, special agent in charge for the ICE Office of Investigations in Arizona, said the return of Guerrero to face justice shows how law enforcement agencies in the United States are working with Mexico to combat the drug-related violence and crime in that nation.

“As this administration has said, this is a homeland security issue in which we have a major stake. The Department of Homeland Security’s goal in this instance is not only to see justice served, but to protect law-abiding citizens on both sides of the border,” he stated.