Police are hunting gunmen who shot dead three models in Honduran capital Tegucigalpa , after forcing them from their car and making them lie in the road . Alma Mariela Vargas , 28 , from San Marcos de Colón , Madelyn Ramirez Zambrano , 21 , and Blanca Velasquez Alejandra Mejia , 20 , both from San Pedro Sula , were being driven in a Toyota SUV in the Valle de Angeles area of the city when they were attacked . Their car was apparently intercepted by gunmen in a car and a motorcycle on Sunday morning . Forensic staffers and policemen stand at the site where three models were shot dead in the Valle de Angeles municipality in Tegucigalpa . Models Madelyn Ramirez Zambrano ( left ) and Blanca Velasquez Alejandra Mejia ( right ) were both killed by gunmen in Honduras . Alma Mariela Vargas was killed in a cold-blooded execution with two other models on Sunday morning . They were forced out and executed in cold blood , police said . A man and another woman in their party were injured in the shootout and taken to Escuela Hospital for treatment . Police found 15 bullet casings at the scene , according to Laprensa.hn . An official said that one of the gunmen asked for one of the models by name before the murders took place . She was shot first before the other two were killed , he said . The tragedy followed the arrest in Honduras of Jose Miguel `` Chepe '' Handal , the alleged leader of a drug trafficking organization that coordinated the shipment of tons of Colombian cocaine via Mexican cartels to the United States . Handal , a prominent Honduran businessman , was taken into custody without a struggle in the northwestern city of San Pedro Sula on Thursday near a hospital where his father was receiving treatment , President Juan Orlando Hernandez said in a television interview . Police found 15 bullet casings at the scene , according to a Honduran newspaper report . Hernandez said Honduran judges would likely be in charge of the case because there has not yet been an extradition request from the United States . Since 2013 , the U.S. government has identified Handal as a drug trafficking kingpin who supplied Colombian cocaine to Mexico 's Sinaloa and rival Los Zetas cartels using clandestine airstrips as well as land-based routes into Guatemala , where the Mexican gangs have a presence . Handal 's father and his wife were also designated as leaders of the organization by the U.S. Department of the Treasury 's Office of Foreign Assets Control . `` After several months of searching , today Chepe Handal has been detained and will now be judged , '' Hernandez said in a post on his Twitter page . Drug-related violence in Honduras has increased in recent years since Mexico 's drug cartels expanded there , enlisting Honduran gangs and using its Caribbean coast to transport South American cocaine to consumers in the United States .
Police are hunting gunmen who shot dead three models in Tegucigalpa . Their car was apparently intercepted by gunmen in a car and a motorcycle . The victims were identified as model Ana Maria de Jesus, 19 ; her sister Sofia, 20 ; and their cousin Jose Manuel Martinez, 22.