The officers shot the rear tires of the bus and Lopez lost control, Hurst said. Lopez was able to commandeer the bus but only made it a mile before crashing. He got down underneath the door, he crawled underneath the door … and when he got through that opening that he cut open, that’s when he started struggling with the officer,” Hurst said. He used some type of a device to cut out the bottom of that door. “Somehow, we don’t know yet how that happened. There is a secured door with metal mesh around it, Hurst said. Hurst said Friday investigators are still trying to figure out how Lopez got out of his restraints and into the compartment up front. The officers and the remaining inmates had been evaluated and none had suffered any life-threatening injuries he said. Last we saw him he was fleeing across the cow pasture west of Centerville.” “We do not know if the inmate was hit by any of these shots. The other officer on the bus, Jimmy Brinegar, fired at the fleeing inmate with his service weapon as well as a shotgun, according to Hurst. “The inmate bailed out of the bus, the other inmates were still in their seats – still in their restraints,” he said. Hurst said that Smith prevented the inmate from taking his weapon and the bus came to a stop. “Officer Smith struggled with him trying to keep him from getting his service revolver – his weapon.” He stabbed Officer Smith in the left hand with some sort of object,” Hurst said Thursday during a media briefing carried by CNN affiliate KBTX. “They got into a physical altercation while Officer Smith was driving the bus.
The FBI and US Marshals are involved in the search, which includes almost 300 local, state and federal law enforcement personnel.Īs the transport bus was headed from Gatesville to Huntsville to take inmates to medical appointments, Lopez was able to get out of his restraints and reach the driver, Officer Randy Smith, said Hurst There is a $15,000 reward for information leading to his capture.Īt the third briefing of the day Friday, Hurst said there have been so sightings of Lopez since his escape. Hurst told citizens not to engage Lopez, who was wearing a white shirt and white pants when he escaped, and to call 911 if he is spotted. “He’s got a life sentence for a capital murder, where he killed a man with a pickaxe and he’s also gotten an attempted capital murder conviction for shooting a gun at a police officer,” Hurst said. TDCJ spokesperson Robert Hurst told reporters Friday that Lopez is very dangerous and residents should stay indoors. WBRZ asked for clarification and a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections said the manhunt is in the "whole southern region," but not focusing on the capital area any longer.Cars, cash, wigs and guns: How the Alabama jailbreak came to a deadly end On Saturday the Department of Corrections said Cheevis is not believed to be in the Baton Rouge area and authorities are "focusing regionally for the inmate." He was serving time for charges of aggravated second-degree battery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.Īgencies involved in the manhunt include Dixon Correctional Institute staff and Chase Team, Louisiana State Penitentiary Chase Team, East and West Feliciana Parish Sheriffs Offices, and the U.S. The Department of Corrections said Shwilliam Cheevis, 23, escaped from Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson sometime Thursday morning.Ĭheevis is described as being 5' 7" tall and weighing 138 pounds. JACKSON - Several agencies are searching for an inmate who managed to escape a state prison in East Feliciana Parish on Thanksgiving Day.
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