Authorities on Friday were looking for a Texas inmate serving a life sentence for murder who escaped from a transport van after stabbing its driver.
Gonzalo Lopez, 46, escaped custody Thursday after overpowering the driver, whose injuries were not considered life-threatening, said Jason Clark, chief of staff for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The department said Friday that a $22,500 reward was being offered for information leading to Lopez’s arrest.
Lopez was convicted in 2006 of killing a man along the Texas-Mexico border.
Lopez escaped in Leon County, a rural area between Dallas and Houston. Classes at the nearby Centerville Independent School District were canceled Friday as a precaution.
The Leon County Sheriff’s Office said several agencies were involved in the search, including Texas Department of Public Safety planes.
Sixteen inmates were on board the bus, but no one else escaped, Clark said.
Leon County has a population of about 16,000 and is located about 50 miles north of the state prison headquarters.
Prison records show Lopez was last held in a lockup in Gatesville, more than 100 miles from where authorities were searching.
Other inmates in Texas have also escaped transport vehicles over the years. One of the most recent was in 2019 when an MMA fighter suspected of killing two people fled from a van and went missing for nine hours. According to authorities, he was eventually found hidden in a garbage can.
