CENTERVILLE, Texas — The search by floor and air within the Texas county the place a convicted assassin escaped from a jail transport bus and stabbed the driving force final week has concluded as the hunt for him expands, authorities stated Friday.
Gonzalo Lopez, 46, was being transported to a medical appointment on May 12 in a caged space of the bus when he escaped in Leon County, a rural space between Dallas and Houston, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has stated.
The division stated Friday that the search was coming into “a new, expanded phase,” saying some personnel will remain in the county and will conduct strategic searches of areas outside the original secured perimeter.
Inspector General Cris Love said anyone found to be helping or harboring Lopez will face not only arrest and prosecution, but he believes is also “putting themselves in danger.”
“Lopez has a complete disregard for human life and will do what it takes to avoid capture,” Love said. “We will take this investigation wherever it leads us till Lopez is again in custody.”
The division has stated Lopez someway freed himself from his hand and leg restraints, reduce via the expanded metallic of the cage and crawled out the underside. He then attacked the driving force, who stopped the bus and obtained into an altercation with Lopez they usually each finally obtained off the bus.
A second officer on the rear of the bus then exited and approached Lopez, who obtained again on the bus and began driving down the street, the division stated.
The officers fired at Lopez and disabled the bus by taking pictures the rear tire, the division stated. The bus then traveled a brief distance earlier than leaving the roadway, the place Lopez obtained out and bumped into the woods.
Lopez was sentenced to life in jail after being convicted in 2006 of killing a person alongside the Texas-Mexico border,
At some level through the escape, the Lopez stabbed the driving force, whose wounds weren’t life threatening, the division stated.
A $50,000 reward for information resulting in Lopez’s seize is being supplied.