Mexican authorities extradite the suspect in the attack on a Harlingen officer

A teen suspected of shooting a Harlingen police officer earlier this week was in U.S. custody Thursday evening after Mexican authorities turned him over.

Abraham Mar, 18, of Harlingen, was in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection as of 7 p.m. Thursday, according to authorities. Earlier in the evening police confirmed he was in the custody of Mexican authorities in Matamoros.

Mar faces a charge of attempted capital murder in connection with the Wednesday night attack on Officer Carlos Diaz, who was shot multiple times during a traffic stop.

Doctors upgraded Diaz's condition from critical to fair early Thursday.

Harlingen Assistant Police Chief Luciano Rubio confirmed Mexican authorities helped capture Mar in Mexico on Thursday and then transferred him to U.S. custody. The FBI, CBP and Harlingen and Brownsville police departments assisted in retrieving him from that country.

The Brownsville Police Department was holding Mar as of late Thursday evening, Rubio said. Authorities planned to keep him there overnight and arraign him this morning either in Harlingen or Brownsville.

Police obtained a warrant for Mar on a charge of attempted capital murder after he allegedly shot Diaz about 8:40 p.m. Wednesday at the intersection of "F" Street and West Buchanan Avenue in Harlingen, authorities said.

Based on information obtained from video recorded by the patrol car's dash camera, it appeared that Mar was alone during the incident, authorities said.

Police have not ruled out the possibility, however, that someone else was with him, Osborne said.

Immediately after the shooting, an alert went out to other law enforcement agencies in the region, he said.

"All law enforcement in the area were aware of the situation and we asked them to keep a lookout," Osborne said.

During a news conference Thursday at the Harlingen Police Department, Rubio said Diaz's condition at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen had been upgraded from critical to fair.

Diaz was in good spirits after surgery, Rubio said.

Osborne did not say how many gunshot wounds Diaz suffered, only that the officer was shot multiple times in the right shoulder and forearm and that one bullet grazed his head.

Osborne and Rubio described the shooting as an "ambush."

About nine shots were fired, Osborne said.

Authorities did not release any information on the weapon used in the shooting.

Photographs of Diaz's police car appear to show eight bullet holes in the windshield with a ninth going into the edge of the roof just above the windshield. One photograph appears to show nine shell casings on the pavement.

Police believe Mar was traveling in a white Mitsubishi Galant.

Cameron Country sheriff's deputies spotted a car matching that description shortly after the shooting and pursued it toward Mexico, Osborne said, but the fleeing driver drove the vehicle into the Rio Grande near Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville.

It was not known if Mar was in the vehicle at the time of the pursuit, Rubio said during the news conference.
____

Brownsville Herald reporter Laura Tillman contributed to this report.