Texas Manhunt Ends in Escaped Prisoner's Death

Late last night in Jourdanton, 46-year-old Gonzalo Lopez was declared dead after a shootout with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, People Magazine announced. Lopez had been the target of a Texas Department of Criminal Justice manhunt since escaping a prison bus on May 12th. According to People Magazine, he broke through his restraints and left the bus driver with non-fatal stab wounds before hijacking the bus, and after taking fire from officers, he fled on foot “into a wooded area in Leon County.”

The conclusion to the intensive manhunt came hours after suspected reports that Lopez had killed a Houston family of a grandfather and four grandchildren in their weekend cabin and stolen their truck, CBS19 KYTX states. Police sighted the truck near the North Star Mall in San Antonio and tracked Lopez south into Atascosa County. CBS19 KYTX reports the police spiked his tires, and after crashing into a tree, Lopez fired at his pursuers with a stolen handgun and AR-15 rifle, but was killed before wounding any officers.

Lopez had been serving double life sentences for shooting at a sheriff’s deputy and using a pickax to kill a man he’d held hostage over a drug debt in 2004, states CBS19 KYTX. CBS DFW adds that he was convicted in 2006. He had managed to hide from police in 2004 with help from a cartel associate.