US Marshals arrest Calif. restaurant shooting suspect in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A fugitive wanted for a deadly shooting at a Church's Chicken in Southern California is now in Memphis custody.

A US Marshals task force arrested 49-year-old Albert Blake in North Memphis Friday – 1,700 miles away from San Diego, where he's wanted for shooting three Church's Chicken employees and killing one of them.

San Diego Police say on Nov. 6, employees at a Church's Chicken turned Blake away when he tried to pay with a counterfeit $100 bill.

Investigators say he returned with a gun and shot three workers, 28-year-old Maribel Ibanez was killed.

For two weeks, a memorial for Maribel has grown in size outside the restaurant.

And for two weeks, Albert Blake has been on the run. That ended Friday.

US Marshals say they tracked him down in North Memphis at a house in the 2300 block of Hubbard Avenue near Chelsea and Hollywood.

Oddly enough, that house is a 60-second car ride away from the Church's Chicken on Chelsea Avenue.

A spokesperson for the Marshal's Gulf Coast Task Force says Blake was taken into custody without incident.

Blake is currently awaiting extradition back to California.

No word on why he was in Memphis or who he was staying with at that house.

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