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UPDATE -- Authorities capture suspect following day-long search
An hour after authorities had called off a four-hour search Monday for a wanted man in the subdivisions above Legacy Park, a citizen flagged down a patrol car and alerted them to the possible presence of the suspect in a car going down Canyon Creek Road.
Deputies and city police quickly converged on the scene and shortly after 3 p.m. arrested Miguel Laquerica, 29, of Nampa, whom they had been seeking since he fled a traffic stop earlier in the day.
Sergeant Humberto Fuentes Jr. with the Mountain Home Police Department had made a traffic stop for running a stop sign or light in the area of Paul's Market at approximately 10 a.m. on a 1996 Red GMC Yukon driven by a male subject later identified as Laquerica.
Once Sgt. Fuentes made contact with the subject and returned to his patrol vehicle to verify drivers status, the subject left the scene in his vehicle heading north on North 3rd East Street.
Sgt. Fuentes pursued Laquerica to the north side of town at the end of North 3rd East St., where he jumped out of his vehicle and fled the scene on foot.
A stolen handgun allegedly was found in the vehicle.
Both city police and Elmore County Sheriff's Office deputies converged on the scene, several times spotting the suspect, who continued to elude them by jumping over privacy fences in the subdivisions in the area and running through back yards.
At one point he was believed to have hidden in a house where the occupants were not at home.
While Laquerica remained at large, residents in that section of town were urged to secure their homes and close their garage doors, a basic precaution authorities said all area residents should practice whenever they are not home.
A "reverse 911" notice was sent out to residents in the area through MyStateUSA.com at about 1 p.m. It is the first time the Elmore County Sheriff's Office dispatch has ever used the system.
After more than three hours of conducting a ground search by deputies and city police in an attempt to locate Laquerica, authorities called off the official search, releasing some officers for other duties, but city and county officers continued to patrol the area.
About an hour later a citizen alerted police to the possible presence of Laquerica in a white car on Canyon Creek Road. He was found hunkered down in the back seat, and taken into custody without further incident.
Two other individuals in the car, who were not immediately identified, have been detained for questioning in connection with the ongoing investigation. The vehicle had Ada County plates on it.
Laquerica is wanted in Canyon County for a probation violation involving an assault on a police officer.