SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — A 31-year-old Indian American man has been arrested in the Mexican city of Guadalajara for allegedly shooting a U.S. diplomat over a visa dispute.
The diplomat was allegedly shot by Zafar Zia, who was wearing a black wig and blue nurse uniform, outside of the parking garage of a shopping center, on Friday in Mexico’s second-largest city.
The Indian American man was arrested as part of a joint investigation being conducted by the FBI, DEA and Jalisco state officials in Guadalajara’s affluent Providencia neighborhood. A spokesperson at the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office named the suspect as the aforementioned Zia, and said he was a naturalized American from India. At the time of his arrest, Zia had a .38 caliber pistol in his possession, according to a report from The Daily Beast.
Authorities also seized a Honda Accord with California license plates and a wig that is believed to have been used at the time of the attempted murder.
Zia moved to Guadalajara from Phoenix in November, and had been residing in the city since. The apparent motive for the crime was a dispute that arose out of an undisclosed visa application process, according to local media reports. The FBI was offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the shooter.
Security footage recorded just prior to the shooting showed the victim validating his parking lot ticket while carrying a gym bag. Moments later, he is followed by a man wearing a nurse’s uniform.
After Zia’s arrest, the attorney general’s office and the foreign ministry said in a joint statement that he would face justice in the U.S. for the “sordid and cowardly” shooting.
Secretary of state John Kerry thanked the Mexican government for the swift arrest of the suspect in a statement.
“On behalf of President Obama and the people of the U.S., I want to thank the government of Mexico for their swift and decisive arrest of a suspect in the heinous attack against our Foreign Service Officer colleague,” Kerry said.
