The man who authorities said escaped law enforcement custody May 12 by stabbing a bus driver after getting out of his shackles is now suspected of murdering five people, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced.
TDCJ said law enforcement received a call from an individual who became concerned after not hearing from an elderly relative in Leon County and that when officers responded they found the bodies of two adults and three children.
Gonzalo Artemio Lopez, 46, “assaulted a correctional officer on a transport bus, and then fled from the vehicle” on May 12, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He’s suspect of these slayings now, too.
Authorities said Lopez managed to get out of his shackles on the way from Gatesville to Huntsville and stabbed the bus driver’s hand before taking control of the bus and crashing it. He has not yet been caught.
TDCJ said a white 1999 Chevy Silverado with the license plate DPV4520 was stolen from the home and they believe Lopez is driving it. He may be armed.
The area is about 145 miles southeast of Fort Worth. Authorities have not said if the killings happened in a specific city or in county land.
Lopez was serving a life sentence for capital murder after he was convicted of killing a man with a pickax in Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley.
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