WALTON COUNTY, Fla. – More than 15 years after authorities say he committed a murder at a Fort Lauderdale sports bar, a weekend driving slipup in front of a sheriff’s deputy in Florida’s Panhandle wound up leading to the capture of a fugitive known as “El Tigre,” officials said.
The suspect ended up in handcuffs after a Walton County deputy patrolling a county road in the Santa Rosa Beach area Sunday evening noticed a white Nissan Altima passing another vehicle on a double yellow line and pulled over the car, the county’s sheriff said.
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The driver didn’t identify himself by his feline nickname, but did say his name was Jose Wilson Padilla-Padilla, according to deputies. After running his name, dispatchers notified the deputy that the 41-year-old had a 2007 first-degree murder warrant out of Broward County under the alias Wilson “El Tigre” Padilla-Diaz.
According to a Fort Lauderdale police report, on Oct. 20 of that year, Padilla-Padilla fatally shot Wilson Zelaya in the chest at the International Sports Bar at 3927 SW 16th St.
A witness said Padilla-Padilla overheard Zelaya threatening to kill his brother. That led to an argument, police wrote.
The witness said Zelaya “armed himself with two Corona beer bottles” and “El Tigre” fired “when it appeared Mr. Zelaya was going to throw the beer bottles,” police wrote.
Police said the witness told investigators that Padilla-Padilla kicked the mortally wounded Zelaya after he fell to the ground and ran out of the establishment.
Following his arrest in Walton County, Padilla-Padilla’s wife showed up to take his car and told deputies the two met in Mexico 12 years ago and that they had been living in Santa Rosa Beach for less than a year, according to authorities.
Padilla-Padilla was taken to the Walton County Jail on the arrest warrant, as well as a charge of driving without a license — authorities say he never had one — and an immigration hold.
He’s set to be extradited back to Broward County, officials said.