According to witnesses, a man (identified initially as Melvin “Hernandez Paniagua”) had a heated argument with the caretaker, Escandon Gutierrez, at the San Pedro Cemetery in Mexico where Mr. Gutierrez worked. The man demanded that Gutierrez pay for a pair of tennis shoes that had been given to Gutierrez on credit.

Witnesses told police that the suspect shot at Gutierrez with an assault rifle as Gutierrez ran. Mr. Escandon Gutierrez died at the scene, while the suspect sped away in a Lincoln Continental. A day later, Mexican officials found the Lincoln Continental burned 40 yards from the Rio Grande, with a burned Norinco rifle in the back seat. The suspect, Melvin “Hernandez Paniagua”, was later identified as Melvin Fernando Paguada Ruiz.

U.S. immigration authorities arrested him in San Antonio, Texas in October, but his extradition case has been pending for months. Today a U.S. Magistrate Judge, Pamela Mathy, granted the extradition request to Mexico during the hearing.