Man arrested in Border Patrol agent’s death

A 22-year-old Mexican man wanted in the United States on suspicion of running over and killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent has been arrested, the Mexican attorney general’s office said Wednesday.

Jesus Navarro Montes was taken into custody Tuesday in the northern state of Sonora after a three-day manhunt by Mexican and U.S. law enforcement authorities.

Navarro was allegedly fleeing federal officers Saturday near Andrade, Calif., in a drug-laden Hummer when Agent Luis Aguilar, 32, threw a spike strip in front of the vehicle to try to stop it.

Authorities said Navarro ran down Aguilar and then drove over the Imperial Sand Dunes and entered Mexico. The dunes are in southeastern California near the Arizona border.

Navarro, a Mexican citizen also wanted in Baja California on people-smuggling charges, was taken to Mexicali, where he will be prosecuted on the Mexican charges, said Mexico’s Ministry of Public Security.

Mexican authorities said they were awaiting an extradition request from the United States. Mexico does not extradite suspects who could face the death penalty, and first-degree murder of a federal officer is a capital offense.

The U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego, which has been handling the case, declined to comment on whether prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

Navarro was arrested when he arrived at his home in El Yaqui, a small town on the outskirts of Ciudad Obregon in Sonora.

Aguilar, a six-year veteran of the Border Patrol, was married and had two children. His burial is scheduled for Monday in his hometown of El Paso.

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richard.marosi@latimes.com

Cecilia Sanchez of The Times’ Mexico City Bureau contributed to this report.