FOOTAGE has captured the dramatic moment an escaped convict fled into the woods after hijacking a prison bus.
Gonzalo Lopez, 46, stole the prison vehicle on May 12 – weeks before allegedly wiping out a family of five at their Texas vacation home.
5
5
Lopez was heading to a medical appointment in Huntsville when he broke out of the vehicle.
He had managed to free himself from his hand and leg restraints and cut through the expanded metal of the cage before crawling out of the bottom, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Officials said he then assaulted the bus driver and started driving the vehicle before it was disabled and crashed.
Melanie Tieperman was driving with her son in Leon County when she came across the crash site.
Cell phone footage, which was shared with KAGS-TV, appeared to show a figure, presumed to be Lopez, running into the woodland.
Her son Braxton said: “Yo, we saw the inmate! What the heck?”
Tieperman then shouted to officers nearby: “He’s in the woods.”
Cops were seen surrounding the bus and pointing weapons as they hunted for the fugitive.
Most read in The Sun
Lopez escaped custody before allegedly murdering a family at a property in Centerville.
He is accused of killing Mark Collins and his grandsons Waylon, 18, Carson, 16, Hudson 11, and their 11-year-old cousin Bryson, according to KHOU.
One person close to the family told NewsNation: “This is now a family wiped out.”
Officials believe they had arrived at the ranch Thursday morning, hours before they were killed by the armed and dangerous convict.
David Crain, a longtime family friend, said the loss “is going to be unfillable.”
The three brothers, Waylon, Carson, and Hudson, were reportedly their parents’ only children.
‘UNFILLABLE LOSS’
Crain added that Hudson was just baptized in the family’s swimming pool three days before the 11-year-old was shot dead in cold blood.
Lopez was then shot dead after being spotted in Jourdanton, Texas – just south of San Antonio.
Authorities say Lopez had an AR-15 and a handgun inside the car that was likely from the residence where he allegedly killed the family.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said they received a call from someone who was concerned after not hearing from an elderly relative.
Officers went to the residence and discovered the bodies and noted that a vehicle was also missing.
A 1999 white Chevrolet Silverado, belonging to the Collins family, was not located at the residence.
Cops believe he may have been driving the vehicle before the shootout.
Lopez has a lengthy rap sheet dating back to 1996 when he was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Then in 2006, Lopez was convicted of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping and received a life sentence.
In 2007, Lopez received a second life sentence following an attempted capital murder conviction in another county.
5
5
5
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
