Gang member accused of shooting U.S. Marine to death at strip club was hiding in Tijuana, police say
Mexican authorities arrested a reputed gang member Sunday in connection with the shooting death of a U.S. Marine outside a strip club earlier this year in San Bernardino, police said.
Arturo Perez Medina, 22, a U.S. Citizen, was found hiding in a home in Tijuana and taken into custody by Mexican Federal Police, according to the San Bernardino Police Department. He was booked on suspicion of murder in the death of Douglas Rivas-Rauda, police said.
In a statement, the Police Department said it hoped Perez Medina’s arrest would in some way bring “some peace and closure to Pfc. Rauda’s friends and family as well as to his Marine Corp family.”
The shooting occurred at 2:12 a.m. April 17 in the parking lot of Flesh Club Showgirls, in the 100 block of West Hospitality Lane.
Rivas-Rauda and other Marines were patrons at the strip club that night. Rivas-Rauda, 20, of Twentynine Palms, was the group’s designated driver.
He was standing outside his vehicle waiting for his friends to leave the club when Perez Medina approached him, pulled out a handgun and shot him, officials say.
Perez Medina and three other men fled the area before police arrived.
Police were able to identify all four men as known San Bernardino gang members. Three men were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
But police initially were unable to locate Perez Medina. They later learned he had fled to Mexico. Following his arrest, Perez Medina was returned to San Bernardino.
Authorities said Rivas-Rauda did not know Perez Medina.
According to Rivas-Rauda’s Facebook account, he was an infantry machine gunner at the Marine Corps base in Twentynine Palms.
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