Mexican agents arrest suspect in shooting of U.S. consular official

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A suspect in the shooting of a U.S. consular official in the Mexican city of Guadalajara was arrested on Sunday, the state prosecutor's office said. The Jalisco state prosecutor said on Twitter that special agents made the arrest, but did not provide further details including the name of the suspect or any motive. The consular official, later identified by a Mexican security official speaking on condition of anonymity as Christopher Ashcraft, was shot by a gunman on Friday as he was leaving a city parking lot. A video posted online by the consulate in Guadalajara shows the shooter appearing to wait for the official's car to pull up to a parking lot barrier before shooting directly at the driver and then fleeing. Ashcraft was in stable condition at a local hospital. A source told Reuters he had been shot in the chest. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry thanked the Mexican government for the "swift and decisive arrest of a suspect in the heinous attack against our Foreign Service Officer colleague in Guadalajara, Mexico," according to a statement on Sunday. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation had offered a reward of $20,000 for information that helped to identify the shooter. Guadalajara is Mexico's second largest city, and parts of surrounding Jalisco state have often been the scene of violence by rival drug gangs. (Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Mary Milliken and Jeffrey Benkoe)