The U.S. Marshals in Puerto Rico have arrested a Waterbury man wanted for murder following a violent dispute in Hartford Nov. 19.
Lance Benuet Morales, 23, is alleged to have shot and killed a four-month-old baby and the child’s 20-year-old mother and injured a third person.
After the Hartford Police Department identified Morales as the prime suspect in the shooting, an arrest warrant was issued, charging him with two counts of murder, first-degree assault, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal attempt to commit first-degree assault, and murder with special circumstances.
In collaboration with the Hartford Police, after U.S. Marshals in Connecticut and Massachusetts developed information that Morales had fled to Puerto Rico, they sent a collateral lead to the USMS Puerto Rico Violent Fugitive Task Force, who found and arrested Morales today at a residence in the barrio of Fajardo.
Morales was transported to the Fajardo Police Department for processing and formally charged as a fugitive from justice. He is awaiting extradition to Connecticut, where he will face the charges against him.
“Since the commission of this senseless and heinous act of violence, investigators from the Hartford Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service Violent Fugitive Task Forces in Connecticut and Puerto Rico have tirelessly worked around the clock to bring the suspect to justice,” said acting U.S. Marshal for the District of Connecticut Lawrence Bobnick.
Bobnick added, “This arrest is a testament to the close collaboration between the U.S. Marshals Service and our valued law enforcement partners and it demonstrates the reach these partnerships bring to the pursuit of justice.”
