Louisiana Man Convicted of Attempted Murder Is Captured in Mexico After 32 Years

A Louisiana man convicted of attempted murder was returned to the United States this week after hiding in Mexico for more than 30 years, the F.B.I. announced on Wednesday.

The man, Greg Lawson, 63, of Ringgold, La., was convicted in 1991 for wounding Seth Garlington, then 21, in a “gun battle” outside a store in Ringgold on April 24, 1990, after an altercation between the two men, according to a news report at the time by The Associated Press.

The shooting left Mr. Garlington in “serious, but stable condition” at a hospital, The Shreveport Times reported.

Mr. Garlington could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

A grand jury indicted Mr. Lawson on 12 charges, including some stemming from another assault days before the shooting, The Shreveport Times reported.

Mr. Lawson, who was 31 at the time of his conviction in May 1991, fled the Claiborne Parish courthouse before the jury’s guilty verdict was announced.

The F.B.I. said it had begun its search for Mr. Lawson that same month. In 2007, the agency offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to his capture, but 32 years passed before it could act on a credible tip about his whereabouts.

“Throughout the years, the F.B.I. ran out numerous leads across the United States, based on various tips and alleged sightings,” the agency said in a statement. “From the beginning, the F.B.I. suspected Lawson had fled to Mexico.”

Mexican authorities said they had received a criminal complaint for a man in the town of Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca, Mexico, when they learned of the F.B.I.’s search for a fugitive in the area.

The man, who was eventually identified as Mr. Lawson, had resided in the coastal area of the state using the identity of a dead person from Alabama, the Mexican authorities said. He was arrested in Huatulco, Oaxaca, on Tuesday, according to the F.B.I.

“There is no doubt that Mr. Lawson might still be in the wind if our partners in Mexico had not been willing to deal with this so swiftly,” said Douglas A. Williams Jr., an F.B.I. special agent in New Orleans, in a news release.

The F.B.I. posted video footage. to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday, showing Mexican officials handing over Mr. Lawson to the American authorities at an airport in Houston.

Mr. Lawson appeared to laugh as he was placed in handcuffs.

Jail records show that Mr. Lawson is being held at the Claiborne Parish Detention Center.

Daniel Newell, the Louisiana district attorney prosecuting Mr. Lawson’s case, said that sentencing for the attempted murder conviction would likely begin in November, and that Mr. Lawson would be charged with an additional felony for “bail jumping.”

It was unclear if Mr. Lawson had retained a lawyer.