At approximately 3:15 pm today, Oscar Junior Andujar Ortiz, 25, the suspect in a homicide investigation initiated in Dunn County on Sunday involving the death of a Watford City, N.D., man in northwest Dunn County has been arrested in Moorhead, M.N.
According to the Moorhead Police Department, Ortiz was taken into custody without incident following a successful day-long investigation leading to his location under a stairwell of an apartment building in the 500 block of 32 Avenue South, in Moorhead.
A handgun was also recovered in the area, according to police. Ortiz is being held at the Clay County jail pending extradition for charges to Dunn County, N.D.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Moorhead Police Department cited a collaborative effort during the investigation with members of the Clay County Sheriff's Office, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and Homeland Security.
Ortiz was a fugitive after fleeing from Dunn County following a homicide investigation by the Dunn County Sheriff's Office, in conjunction with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, that sought to question Ortiz as a potential culprit in the homicide.
According to the Dunn County Sheriff's Office, on Monday at about 8:16 p.m. MT, deputies with the Dunn County Sheriff's Office responded to an area near 114th Avenue Northwest on the Gap Road in Dunn County. Responding deputies located a male victim whom they later identified as a Watford City man. The man was found with multiple gun shot wounds, dead.
The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigations were requested to assist the sheriff's office, and assumed the lead on the investigation.
Prior to Ortiz's arrest, Chief Deputy Timothy Sul of the Dunn County Sheriff's Office said that he did not believe that there were any active threats to the community at the time.
"We would ask that any households in that area please review any security or game cameras that may have seen or heard anything or anyone suspicious, or suspicious vehicles around that time frame," Sul said.
Early Tuesday morning, BCI contacted the Moorhead Police Department in Moorhead, M.N., to assist in locating the murder suspect whom they believed to be in the area and considered to be armed and dangerous.
MPD officers first spotted Ortiz early Tuesday, but the elusive fugitive evaded arrest and eluded police. His vehicle was later found on Rivershore Drive South and impounded by law enforcement. Despite the assistance of a K9 tracking team and the Moorhead Fire Department's drone team, Ortiz remained at large until his arrest Tuesday evening.
ADVERTISEMENT
The identity of the victim has not been made public at the time of the reporting.
