According to reports, other inmates served as a diversion for the guards as Lopez broke free of his chains and handcuffs.
The three-week manhunt for Gonzalo Lopez, an associate of the Mexican Mafia responsible for the murders of a Texas rancher and his four grandchildren, has acquired new insight according to newly uncovered data concerning Lopez’s prison bus escape. The murders took place in Texas.
Lopez was able to escape from a prison bus near rural Centerville, according to state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, who spoke to the media on behalf of the deceased convicted murderer’s family on Wednesday. Lopez was then shot and killed by law enforcement personnel in the vicinity of San Antonio.
Whitmire said that several of the other 16 inmates on the bus could face criminal charges for “creating a ruckus, singing, and bouncing up and down.” This was done to distract the authorities while Lopez was unlocking his restraints and “getting out of the tiny cage he was in,” Whitmire added. Lopez was able to escape from his confinement as a result.
According to Whitmire’s version of events, Lopez informed the other inmates that he was about to break out of prison and that “this is your opportunity, too.” According to the senior senator of the state, Lopez allegedly stabbed the bus driver with the same key he used to release himself from handcuffs and open a caged door at the front of the vehicle.