CENTERVILLE, Texas (KBTX) – A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety told KBTX that five people were found murdered in Leon County near the area where escaped prisoner Gonzalo Lopez was last seen in May. There is a large law enforcement presence in the area, including a helicopter.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says law enforcement received a call from a person who was concerned after not hearing an adult relative. Officers arrived at the residence and found the bodies of two adults and three children.
A 1999 white Chevrolet Silverado, registration number DPV4520, was missing from the residence. The TDCJ says escaped prisoner Gonzalo Lopez can drive the vehicle and may be armed.
Highway 7 is closed again west of Centerville.
ОНLEON COUNTY MURDER UPDATE: This is the area near the home where the bodies were found. It’s on Highway 7 west of Centerville. Shortly after receiving this photo, our reporter @KBTXRiddell was asked to leave the area. pic.twitter.com/RMDbsOtydD
– Rusty Surette (@KBTXRusty) June 3, 2022
Previous update:
State prison officials say they plan to brief the media on Thursday night about the search for escaped prisoner Gonzalo Lopez.
On social media, several Centerville residents said there had been a sudden increase in law enforcement in a rural area west of Centerville, not far from where the escape took place. KBTX asked TDCJ staff for more details, but said nothing could be confirmed or released at this time. A briefing will be given later tonight, officials said, but no exact time was specified.
Lopez, 46, escaped from a TDCJ prison bus on Highway 7 west of Centerville on May 12 as they headed to Huntsville for a doctor’s appointment.
“He’s cunning,” Texas Justice Department spokesman Robert Hirst said last month. “He did this before down in South Texas in Web County, he hid for almost nine days.”
Earlier this week, authorities investigated a possible sighting of Lopez on Highway 21 in Madison County, but later found that it was not him, although the man, reported by a concerned citizen, fled to a wooded area and was never open.
Lopez, who was serving a life sentence, was transported to a medical examination in a closed area of the bus intended for high-risk prisoners.
While Lopez was being transported, he somehow freed himself from the restraints on his arms and legs, cut through the expanded metal of the cage and crawled out of the bottom, the TDCJ said. He then attacked the driver, who stopped the bus and got into a fight with Lopez, the department said. Eventually, they both got off the bus.
At one point, the driver was stabbed and wounded in the arm and chest, said Jason Clark, chief of staff. He said the driver’s injuries were not life-threatening.
A second police officer in the back of the bus then got out and approached Lopez, who returned to the bus and began driving down the road, the department said.
Officers fired on Lopez and disabled the bus by firing into a rear tire, the department said. The bus then traveled a short distance before leaving the roadway, from where Lopez got off and ran into the woods, according to the department.
Sixteen prisoners were on board the bus, but no one else escaped, the department said.
A reward of $ 50,000 is still being offered for capturing Lopez.
Leon County has a population of about 16,000 and is about 50 miles north of Huntsville Prison headquarters.
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