A Salem man charged in the 2012 murder of an Afghan war veteran outside a Boston nightclub has been tracked down and arrested in the Dominican Republic, authorities said.

Peter Castillo was arrested Thursday night by authorities in the Dominican Republic and turned over to U.S. Marshals. He was flown today to New York, where he is being held as fugitive from justice, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.

Castillo faces first-degree murder charges in the death of Stephen Perez Jr., 22, of Revere, Wark said. Perez was shot in the back at point blank range in a parking lot on Tremont Street after a fight broke out outside a Theatre District nightclub.

“We expect to arraign [Castillo] at the earliest opportunity, likely sometime next week,” Wark said.

A former Army sniper who had served in Afghanistan, Perez was studying at Bunker Hill Community College and wanted to be a Revere cop.

Castillo went on the lam after he was identified as a suspect and was featured on “America’s Most Wanted” a few months after the slaying. He was added to the U.S. Marshals Service “15 Most Wanted” fugitive list last October.