The purported Mexican drug cartel member being held for the shooting death of Brownsville ICE agent Jaime Zapata, has admitted to the killing. Julian Zapata Espinoza pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington D.C. Thursday  to the shootings that took the life of agent Zapata and wounded his partner Victor Avila.

The two were on assignment in Mexico and were traveling in their government SUV when they were ambushed near San Luis Potosi. Zapata Espinoza, believed to have been a Zeta leader for that region, was among several people arrested within days of the February 2011 attack. The U-S agreed to not seek the death penalty in exchange for his extradition from Mexico, and he now faces a sentence of up to life in prison.