[avery]

Texas officials are searching for a convicted murderer who escaped custody on Thursday after he allegedly stabbed a prison bus driver and fled the vehicle when it crashed, according to authorities.

Gonzalo Artemio Lopez, 46, had been serving a life sentence since he was convicted of killing a man with a pickax. Lopez was being moved in Texas from Gatesville to Huntsville for a medical appointment when he was somehow able to get free of his restraints and stab the driver in the hand with an object, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Robert Hurst told The Washington Post. The agency did not identify the object.

After the vehicle crashed into a cow pasture in rural Leon County, Lopez escaped from the corrections department bus and fled across the pasture at around 1:20 p.m., authorities said.

Multiple agencies, including the state’s Office of the Inspector General, have joined in the search for Lopez near the city of Centerville, which is about halfway between Houston and Dallas. Local authorities are urging residents to “lock your doors and vehicles” if they see Lopez, who was last spotted going west on Highway 7 about 1.5 miles from Interstate 45.

“If you spot Lopez, immediately contact 911 and do not approach him,” Hurst said in a news release. He added to KPRC, “This individual should be considered armed and dangerous. Although we do not believe he has a weapon in his possession at this time, he is someone that anybody who sees him should not try to take into custody themselves.”

Hurst told The Washington Post that roughly 300 law enforcement officers were searching for Lopez as of Friday morning.


“Still looking for him,” Hurst said. “For anybody in the public, please do not deal with this guy individually. Do not engage with this guy.”

Lopez was convicted of capital murder in 2006 for killing a man near the southern border the previous year. Lopez kidnapped the man and attempted to extract a ransom from his wife over a drug debt before killing him, according to KGNS. Hurst told The Post that Lopez killed the man with a pickax.

The 46-year-old’s record includes multiple offenses in Hidalgo County, inmate records show. He was also convicted of attempted capital murder for firing gunshots at a sheriff in Webb County, according to authorities. Lopez isn’t eligible for parole until April 2045, according to inmate records.

As the long, white transport bus carrying 16 inmates was in the middle of the 160-mile trip from Gatesville to Huntsville, Lopez was able to get out of his restraints and enter the cage-like area where the bus driver, Randy Smith, was located, Hurst told reporters. It remains unclear how Lopez got out of the restraints — or acquired an object used to stab Smith.

“They got into a physical altercation while Officer Smith was driving the bus. He stabbed Officer Smith in the left hand with some sort of object,” Hurst said. “Officer Smith struggled with him trying to keep him from getting his service revolver — his weapon.”

At that point, the bus crashed into a cow pasture as Smith prevented Lopez from getting his gun, according to TDCJ.

“The inmate bailed out of the bus, the other inmates were still in their seats — still in their restraints,” Hurst told reporters Thursday.

An officer onboard the bus, Jimmy Brinegar, fired his service weapon and a shotgun at the fleeing inmate, but it is unclear if any of the shots hit Lopez, Hurst said.

The injuries suffered by Smith are not life-threatening, according to TDCJ. None of the other officers or inmates onboard were hurt.

Centerville resident Melanie Tieperman said to KBTX that she and her son drove past Lopez as he fled the bus and ran into the pasture, noting that he jumped a fence and ran in the direction of a home.

“We saw the inmate,” her son is heard saying in a video, according to KBTX. “What the heck?”

[avery]

This reminds me of a movie I think it starred robin williams

[hughjardon67]

Unleash the hounds...they'll have him sniffed out in no time.

[kellyhound]

hopefully he will be caught quick

[William May]

HEY! EVERBODY!!!!
I Dun got me a BIGFOOT!!!!

Well, I THOUGHT it was a Bigfoot!

Turned out to be a guy in a orange jumpsuit!

Who'd a THUNK it!?!?!

[avery]

Lopez, from the Rio Grande Valley, is affiliated with the Mexican Mafia. On May 12, 2022, Lopez escaped from a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) transport bus on State Highway 7 near Centerville in Leon County after assaulting a correctional officer.

In 1996, Lopez was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault and was sentenced to eight years in a TDCJ prison. In 2006, he was convicted of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in Hidalgo County and was sentenced to life in prison. In 2007, Lopez was given a second life sentence after being convicted of attempted capital murder in Webb County.

Lopez is 6 feet tall, weighs about 185 pounds and has tattoos on his back, abdomen and chest. He also has a burn scar on the right side of his neck. Lopez has ties to the Rio Grande Valley area, including Weslaco and Mercedes. He also has ties to San Antonio.

[HYPRTCKR]

~ He probably got some inside help from the jail metal shop dept. to have gotten free from restraints.

[ITSOKTOCRY]

The fucker just killed a grandfather and his four grandchildren at their vacation house a few days ago