Thread: Mexico extradites suspect in shooting

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Mexico extradites suspect in shooting
DOUGHNUT SHOP: The man is accused of killing Hannah "Honey" Jordan, of Riverside, for her car.

10:00 PM PDT on Friday, July 7, 2006
By CHRIS RICHARD
The Press-Enterprise


A man charged with killing Riverside community activist Hannah "Honey" Jordan outside a San Bernardino doughnut shop in 2001 was extradited to the United States from Mexico on Friday.

Hector Aguirre, 23, was one of five fugitives turned over by Mexican authorities after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty or life imprisonment.

No information was available late Friday as to the schedule or next step in Aguirre's prosecution.

Authorities accuse Aguirre and two accomplices of shooting Jordan, 54, on Dec. 31, 2001, when she stopped at Donut Makers on Highland Avenue. They believe Jordan was shot because of the car she was driving, a red 2001 Chrysler 300M sedan. According to police reports, the men had been hired to steal a car of that make and model.

Another man accused in the killing, Ruben Garcia, 26, accepted a plea agreement in April, moments before his murder trial was scheduled to begin. A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge has sealed the case file, and no sentencing date has been set.

Garcia had been charged with murder and carjacking, with the sentencing enhancements of deadly use of a firearm and committing a crime to benefit a criminal street gang.

Aguirre, 24, faces the same charges. An FBI news release calls Aguirre the gunman.

A third suspect, Eliazar Rangel, of Los Angeles, was released in November 2002 because of a lack of evidence, authorities said.

Mark Edwards, a Jordan family friend and spokesman, discussed the arrest late Friday.

"The family is relieved. I'm relieved." Edwards said.

"The others might be guilty because they were there, part of the criminal enterprise if you will. But they say this is the one who pulled the trigger, and that does make it different," Edwards said.

"I know that this is a sign to Ken and his children that the justice system is finally working. But I worry for them because I know the trial is going to be very difficult for them."

In an April interview, Edwards said Hannah Jordan apparently had decided to visit the doughnut shop on a whim.

She was in San Bernardino helping her husband, neurologist Kenneth Jordan, finish the yearly accounting records at his office in nearby St. Bernardine Medical Center.

The car was later discovered about a mile away.

Edwards said Hannah Jordan, the mother of three adult children, was well-known for her charity work.

She had joined 16 local and statewide organizations, often serving on their boards, Edwards said.

He said she was about to take office as president of the San Bernardino County Medical Society Alliance when she was killed.

Extradited at the same time as Aguirre were two suspects in Chicago cases, Roberto Ramirez Vasquez, 26, and Farhad Hakimi, 50, and a couple charged in a Nashville, Tenn., killing, Genero Espinosa Dorantes and Martha L. Cano Patlan, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

Hector Aguirre, 23, was one of five fugitives turned over by Mexican authorities after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty or life imprisonment.

What are we supposed to do with them then? Slap them on the wrist and put them in the streets again?