By The Star Staff
Police Commissioner Antonio López Figueroa said Monday night that Luis Nomar “CDobleta” Isaac Sánchez, a person of interest in the murder of Puerto Rico Police agent Eliezer Ramos Vélez, turned himself in and was placed in the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Guaynabo, as he has an arrest warrant at the federal level.
“Look, thank God Almighty, the work of each of my police officers, teamwork, with federal agencies, municipal agencies, who seek the truth with me, and the citizens,” López Figueroa said in response to questions from the press. “This person [is in custody] due to the pressure from the police, who are in different residential areas, … looking … in other municipalities. As I always say, I have two police officers, the uniformed one who is prevention, and I have one that no one sees, who are the people who make confidential interventions because the result is that this person decided to turn himself in to agent José Vidró of the Intelligence and Arrests Division of the Puerto Rico Police. He is in the custody of the police, the Carolina Homicide Division, who are preparing right now to interview him related to the vile murder of my policeman, Eliezer Ramos Vélez. This does not stop here, we have other people who we know are involved in this, and as long as we have evidence to support the case we will be here.”
Ramos Vélez was promoted posthumously to the rank of sergeant in a ceremony Tuesday.
“Well, I can only say that he [Isaac Sánchez] is a person of interest because I can’t give details of the case,” the police chief added. “Puerto Rico is interested in this case being taken to court. But if I tell you that he is a person of interest from the beginning, we understand that we have to interview them related to this act. You have a federal warrant for your arrest, HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] staff are here to serve it. So, we continue to work thanks to Puerto Rico, thanks to my agents who have given everything during these days; we continue with this effort, and at a given time, the proceeding of the investigation will be decided.”
López Figueroa added that the authorities will continue their presence in the Sabana Abajo residential complex in Carolina, where the 12-year police veteran was gunned down in the early hours of last Friday.
“Well, I’m going to say that several are missing, because it wasn’t one who committed the act, there were several,” he said. “I don’t want to affect the number, because from the investigation another person may emerge, right, and I don’t want anyone who represents these individuals at this time, to have any argument that could damage the case.”
“We are waiting for scientific analysis, we have film material, we have tips, all of that is going to be corroborated now, and the link between this individual and the murder is going to be established,” López Figueroa added. “Today he’s going to federal prison.”
Isaac Sánchez turned himself in near Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Hato Rey, in the presence of a lawyer.
Ramos Vélez, 35, was the first police officer killed in the line of duty in 2024. He is survived by a son.
According to the authorities’ investigation, the police agent left his work shift at 4 a.m., and while traveling along the Román Baldorioty de Castro Expressway he saw some subjects on a motorcycle shooting at a moving vehicle. The officer proceeded to follow them, arriving at the entrance of the aforementioned public housing complex, where he was killed.