KERN COUNTY, Calif. (KMJ/KFSN) — An inmate who escaped outside a courthouse in Delano last year is now on the run after a shootout with authorities in Mexico on Wednesday.
Several news outlets in Mexico have reported that Mexican police commander Abigail Esparza Reyes was killed in an exchange of gunfire with Cesar Hernandez in a Tijuana neighborhood.
Reports say that officers from the U.S. and Mexico were trying to arrest Hernandez when the shooting began.
Hernandez was serving a sentence at Kern Valley State Prison when he escaped late last year.
Hernandez, 34, escaped from custody in Delano on December 2, 2024, while being transported to a court appearance. The Delano Police Department reported that Hernandez evaded staff custody, jumped out of the transport van, and fled.
He was serving a 25-year-to-life sentence for first-degree murder, a second-strike offense, after being received from Los Angeles County in 2019.
The officer who was killed is part of the “Gringo Hunters” team that’s been featured in past ABC News coverage.
The team of officers based in Baja California Norte is responsible for tracking down and arresting foreigners, most of them wanted by U.S. authorities.
