US deports Colombian wanted in death of journalist

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — U.S. immigration officials say a Colombian man wanted in his home country in the fatal shooting of a journalist has been deported after being arrested in South Texas last year.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday that 51-year-old Fabio Lopez-Escobar was deported Monday.

He's accused of aggravated homicide based on an arrest warrant issued in Colombia in 2015. U.S. officials say that according to Colombian authorities, Jose Orlando Sierra Hernandez, a journalist for the newspaper "La Patria," was walking along a street in Manizales in 2002 when Lopez-Escobar shot him twice in the head. Authorities say Lopez-Escobar was paid to execute the journalist.

U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Lopez-Escobar near Hidalgo in early 2016 and he was transferred to ICE custody. A judge in November ordered his deportation to Colombia.