The Tijuana chief of an elite state police unit that searches for U.S. fugitives in Mexico, nicknamed “The Gringo Hunters,” was killed in a shootout Wednesday while trying to arrest a prisoner who escaped from Central California.

A wanted U.S. citizen shot and killed a top state Mexican police officer in an elite unit known as "the Gringo Hunters," which dedicates itself to arresting U.S. suspects who are fugitives in Mexico.

An escaped California inmate is now wanted for killing a Mexican police commander during a shootout in Tijuana, officials said.