Suspect in drive-by shooting of 20-year-old mom and infant arrested in Puerto Rico
A man accused of killing a 20-year-old mother and her 4-month-old son in an apparent drive-by shooting in Hartford, Connecticut, has been arrested in Puerto Rico, officials said.
Lance Morales, 23, will face murder charges in connection to the deadly shooting on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
Morales is from Waterbury, Connecticut, but following the shooting, he fled to Puerto Rico, where he was arrested on Saturday, the Marshals Service said.
He is now awaiting extradition to Connecticut, where he'll face charges, authorities said.
Police were dispatched to Hartford Hospital on Tuesday afternoon after it was reported that a vehicle arrived carrying multiple people who had been shot, the Hartford Police Department said.
Jessiah Mercado and her son Messiah Diaz were pronounced dead at the hospital. Another victim in his 20s suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, police said. The driver of the car was not injured.
Investigators determined the shooting had occurred moments before, when the suspect vehicle pulled alongside the victims' car and opened fire, according to police.
"Since the commission of this senseless and heinous act of violence, investigators from the Hartford Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service Violent Fugitive Task Forces in Connecticut and Puerto Rico have tirelessly worked around the clock to bring the suspect to justice," Lawrence Bobnick, acting U.S. marshal for the District of Connecticut, said in a statement Saturday. "This arrest is a testament to the close collaboration between the U.S. Marshals Service and our valued law enforcement partners and it demonstrates the reach these partnerships bring to the pursuit of justice."
ABC News' Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
