Authorities say a Texas prisoner who was serving a life sentence for escaping a bus last week escaped the restraints and the cage area before stabbing the driver.
From the Associated Press
May 18, 2022, 5:39 p.m.
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CENTERVILLE, Texas – A convicted killer who escaped from a transport bus last week came out of his restraints and the cage area before stabbing the driver, and he is still fleeing Wednesday, authorities said.
Gonzalo Lopez, 46, who was serving a life sentence, was transported to a medical appointment on May 12 in a closed area of the bus for high-risk prisoners, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said in a statement, offering new details of the escape.
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 to the bottom, the department said. He then attacked the driver, who stopped the bus and got into a fight with Lopez, and eventually the two got off the bus, the department said.
At one point, the driver was stabbed and wounded in the arm and chest, said Jason Clark, chief of staff of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 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 shooting the rear tire, the department said. The bus then traveled a short distance before leaving the roadway, where Lopez got off and ran into the woods.
Sixteen prisoners were on board the bus, but no one else escaped, the department said.
Lopez, who was convicted in 2006 of killing a man on the Texas-Mexico border, fled to Leon County, a rural area between Dallas and Houston. Several law enforcement agencies are involved in the search, which includes planes and teams of horse and dog teams.
Leon County has about 16,000 inhabitants. and is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Huntsville Prison headquarters.
Lopez was transported from a prison in Gatesville, more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of the area where he escaped, to one in Huntsville, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of that area.
The prize for information leading to Lopez’s capture has risen to $ 50,000.
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