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American Arrested in Brazen Shooting of U.S. Consular Officer in Mexico

Mexican federal authorities said the suspect was being returned to the United States after the "cunning and cowardly attack."
Image: Surveillance footage captures images of the suspect in a shooting of an Foreign Service Officer in Guadalajara, Mexico, Jan. 6, 2017.
Surveillance video of the suspect Friday in Guadalajara, Mexico.Photo courtesy of the Official Facebook of the Consulate in Guadalajara

Mexican authorities arrested an American in the brazen shooting of a U.S. consular officer in the Pacific coast state of Jalisco, officials said Sunday.

In a joint statement, Mexican federal authorities said the suspect, who was not identified, was being returned to the United States for the "cunning and cowardly attack."

Image: Surveillance video of suspect
Surveillance video captured images of the suspect Friday in Guadalajara, Mexico.Facebook - consulate in Guadalajara

Details about a possible motive have not been released.

The victim, who also was not identified, was in stable condition, the joint statement said, and recovering from what Secretary of State John Kerry called a "heinous attack" in a statement issued Sunday.

The officer was shot Friday in Guadalajara. Later that day, the U.S. consulate released a video of the shooting that showed a man in dark blue shirt and pants waiting near a security gate. As a black car pulls up to the gate — and with someone sitting on a planter just feet away — the man points a gun at the windshield and fires. Then he turns and runs.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the consulate said the FBI was offering $20,000 for information that could help identify the suspect. It was unclear whether someone would be eligible for that reward.

Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city, is an economic powerhouse in a region wracked by violence.

In 2015, a powerful cartel killed 25 police officers in two months, shot down a military helicopter and "shut the state of Jalisco down" with 40 road blocks, a U.S. State Department report said.