Greg Lawson captured in Mexico after 32 years on run

A Louisiana fugitive who spent half his life on the run was captured in Mexico Tuesday — and laughed as he was cuffed more than three decades after he was convicted for trying to murder a lifelong friend.

Greg Lawson, 63, was dragged back onto US soil after a tipster reported sighting him in Huatulco, a resort region in the southwestern portion of the country, the FBI announced.

Video showed the attempted murderer — dressed in a khaki shirt and flowy green pants — laughing before being placed in handcuffs for the first time in 32 years.

He has been on the agency’s wanted list since May 1991, when he vanished from the rural community of Ringgold, home to a diminishing population of 1,370.

Lawson had been found guilty of attempted second-degree murder for trying to gun down his childhood friend in what the community remembers as the biggest shootouts Ringgold had ever seen, KTBS reported.

Lawson, then 31, had tried to run his victim Seth Garlington’s car off the road moments earlier, leading to a fight-fight in the gas station parking lot where the guns were then drawn.

Garlington survived his injuries, leading to Lawson’s conviction, but he skipped town before the jury could hand down the verdict.

The FBI followed numerous leads and alleged sightings across the US over the past 32 years, and tried to renew efforts in 2007 by offering a $10,000 reward on his whereabouts.

Finally, a solid tip and a coordinated effort with Mexican immigration authorities ultimately put him back behind bars.

Lawson was deported on immigration violations and escorted to Houston, where he was handed off to the Louisiana police who have been looking for him for decades.

“We want to thank our partners and the public in this case, who never gave up hope that justice could be served for Mr. Lawson’s victim,” Douglas A. Williams Jr., special agent in charge of FBI New Orleans, said in a statement.

“There is no doubt that Mr. Lawson might still be in the wind if our partners in Mexico had not been willing to deal with this so swiftly.”