HARTFORD, Conn — A man who was wanted for murder in Puerto Rico was arrested Thursday in Hartford, officials said.
Connecticut based U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force (CTVFTF) and the Hartford Police Department arrested Jeffrey Lopez-Alameda early Thursday morning.
Around May 31, 2019, Puerto Rico issued an arrest warrant for Lopez-Alameda, charging him with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and violations of the Weapons Act. The warrant stemmed from an investigation into a murder a month earlier.
A couple in front of a home in Lajas, a municipality of Puerto Rico, was shot in a car the night of April 29. One of the victims, 25-year-old Andrés Lozada Zapata, was pronounced dead at the scene while his fiancé, 24-year-old Ashley Silva Flores, was taken to a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound to the right side of her head and was in stable condition.
Police said the fatal shooting may have come from confusion over 'rivalry over illegal transfer of drugs' in the area. Three others were arrested in connection to the shooting.
CTVFTF said that Lopez-Alameda had fled Puerto Rico after the murder, received a stolen Social Security card, and assumed the identity of "Radames Negron Gonzalez". Lopez-Alameda was able to obtain a valid Connecticut license with the stolen identity and had been living in the state for over a year.
Officials said that Lopez-Alameda was "so good at concealing his identity" that both even his neighbors and fiancé knew his real name.
Law enforcement, through an investigation, were able to arrest Lopez-Alameda without incident. He was taken to the Hartford Police Department and is awaiting extradition to Puerto Rico.