Suspect: Agent’s death a mistake

MEXICO CITY – An alleged Zetas drug cartel member arrested in the killing of a U.S. immigration agent told soldiers Wednesday the attack was a mistake, saying gunmen mistook the officer’s SUV for a vehicle used by a rival gang, the army said.

Julian Zapata Espinoza – known by the nickname “El Piolin,” or Tweety Bird, apparently because of his short stature – was captured along with five other suspected Zetas members during an army raid Wednesday on gang safehouses in the northern city of San Luis Potosi.

President Barack Obama and other top U.S. officials offered congratulations for the arrests a week after the killing.

Attorney general’s office spokesman Ricardo Najera told the Associated Press that Zapata Espinoza had been arrested on unspecified federal charges in 2009, but jumped bail and disappeared until he was re-arrested Wednesday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata was shot to death and fellow agent Victor Avila was wounded near that city Feb. 15 when they were attacked while driving on a highway.

“That event occurred because of the characteristics of the vehicle, given that they (the suspects) thought it was being used by members of a rival criminal group,” an army spokesman, Col. Ricardo Trevilla, said.

The two agents were in a Chevrolet Suburban. Mexico’s drug cartels frequently set up roadblocks and ambushes to steal large SUVs and pickups, vehicles they like to use.