FBI Captures Louisiana Fugitive in Mexico After 32-Year Long Manhunt

NEW ORLEANS, La. (KPEL News) - Bienville Parish Sheriff's deputies are on their way to Houston, Texas, to pick up a fugitive who has been on the run for over three decades after he nearly killed a man in "one of the biggest shootouts Ringgold, (Louisiana) had ever seen."

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In 1991, 63-year-old Greg Lawson was found guilty of Attempted Second-Degree Murder. According to KTBS 3, Lawson and Seth Garlington got into a fist fight after Lawson forced Garlington's vehicle off the road. The two had been at odds. As the two men fought in a gas station parking lot, guns were drawn and Garlington was shot. Fortunately, he survived.

Lawson decided not to stick around as the Bienville Parish jury decided his fate.

While on the run, Lawson was able to slip the FBI despite numerous leads across the US, based on various tips and alleged sightings of him. The FBI, however, always suspected he had gone to Mexico, and a tip earlier this month (September) finally led them to the fugitive. Agents in Shreveport and Mexico coordinated with FBI Headquarters and Mexican immigration authorities and Lawson was arrested in Huatulco, Mexico, on Tuesday, September 19.

"We want to thank our partners and the public in this case, who never gave up hope that justice could be served for Mr. Lawson's victim," said Douglas A. Williams Jr., Special Agent in Charge of FBI New Orleans. "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."