Luis Enrique Monroy-Bracamonte had a lot to hide. He was living in the United States illegally, had been convicted in Arizona for selling drugs and twice deported to Mexico.
How he escaped detection was a mystery on Sunday.
His background would have almost certainly flagged him to be expelled from the country again, but he stayed under the radar until his arrest Friday on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and carjacking in the deaths of two sheriff's deputies during a shooting rampage in Northern California.
More than 2 million deportations have occurred under the watch of President Barack Obama, whose administration has laid out three priorities for people to be deported: Anyone who poses a public safety threat; anyone with a serious immigration history; and recent border crossers. Monroy-Bracamonte would appear to be a prime candidate on the first two counts.
The suspected shooter told investigators that he was 34-year-old Marcelo Marquez of Salt Lake City, but his fingerprints matched biometric records of Monroy-Bracamonte in a federal database, said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice. He was first removed from the country in 1997 after a conviction for possession of drugs for sale in Arizona, then arrested and repatriated to Mexico again in 2001.
