Police Dog Easily Tracks Down Fugitive

A federal fugitive managed to elude FBI agents and Los Angeles police officers for more than two hours Tuesday. Then they brought in the police dog.

And just like that, Eduardo Hernandez was apprehended, in the 45-gallon plastic trash can where he was hiding.

“It was amazing,” said FBI Special Agent John Hoos. “Within five minutes, he had him.”

Hernandez, 26, who was wanted on suspicion of murder in Texas, was shot at by at least one FBI agent during the confrontation. He was not hit.

Agents found no weapon on Hernandez but fired on him because he was a fugitive wanted for murder and he made sudden motions, said Agent Steven Wayne Berry.

He said the chase started when agents watching Hernandez’s house in the 8500 block of Snowdon Avenue saw him leaving, and approached him and identified themselves. “He . . . took some evasive action, then dashed,” Berry said.

Sgt. Rudy Delgado of the La Feria, Tex., Police Department said Hernandez accompanied a drinking companion home from a bar in 1992 and strangled him. “There could be some others” involved, Delgado said. “We won’t find out until we get Eddie back here.”