Inmate’s mysterious escape investigated

Authorities suspect missing master key may be behind getaway

An inmate went undetected in Fort Lauderdale while slipping past a mental health facility’s workers and a locked door, records show. Not even a 10-foot fence got in his way.

Now, the Broward Sheriff ’s Office will investigate how 46-year-old Azmi Mahmoud pulled off his quick disappearance from Henderson Behavioral Health, a facility that helps people with behavioral health conditions.

Attention has centered on whether Mahmoud somehow got his hands on a master key — a special key that opens many locks — for the getaway. But questions remain about the facility’s security procedures and what went wrong to allow the escape to happen.

“He just escaped,” Eder Francois, a facility worker, told a 911 dispatcher on Tuesday. “We don’t see him. We are looking all over the place for him. I don’t know how he got out.”

More details of his escape are coming to light in newly released reports. According to a police report, Francois told a Fort Lauderdale police officer that missing from the facility at the time of Mahmound’s escape was the facility’s master key. The report doesn’t say whether the key was ever recovered.

Freedom for the 46-year-old Mahmoud, who was deemed in need of psychiatric care, lasted only a day. He was caught after he carjacked a white

BMW and crashed it in Miami-Dade County after being chased at 135 mph on Interstate 75, authorities say. The facility on Northwest 19th Street in Fort Lauderdale is licensed for 23 patient beds, according to state health records. Reached by cellphone, Francois told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the mental health facility has one security guard working at a time.

Francois declined to answer additional questions, and a manager working at the facility hung up on a reporter Thursday.

Mahmoud wound up at Henderson Behavorial Health at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday after a judge signed off on it and the Broward Sheriff ’s Office moved him there.

Records show Mahmoud was to be admitted under the state’s Baker Act, which allows the state to hold someone in a crisis-care facility for a period of time

when that person is deemed to be a threat to himself or another person.

A judge on Dec. 29 allowed Mahmoud to be treated under the Baker Act, but Mahmoud would need to wait several days before being admitted to the crisiscare facility. Before accepting patients, Henderson requires proof that they aren’t positive for COVID19. Mahmoud was admitted Tuesday, a day after test results showed him to be negative for COVID19, according to sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Don Prichard.

Life on the streets

Mahmoud’s sister, Susan Mahmoud, said her brother has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. She said he has episodes while on the streets and ends up in and out of jail.

Mahmoud has been in jail since Nov. 20 on a litany of probation-violation charges. Susan Mahmoud said her brother told the judge after his previous arrest that he didn’t want to be released because he hears voices.

“He said, ‘I need help,’ ” she said. “That’s when he was sent to Henderson.”

Records and the 911 call say Mahmoud was last seen in the intake area at 4:45 p.m., the day he arrived. He was given a blanket, which he left behind when he slipped out of the facility. After the police chase that ended in a crash, his jail booking photo shows him with cuts and bruises across his face. He is being held on 45 charges, most of which pertain to violating probation. On Friday, prosecutor Eric Linder noted to a judge that Mahmoud has a lengthy criminal record and has shown up in court many times on charges such as burglary, robbery and assault. “So clearly Mr. Mahmoud again has shown he is a danger to the community but now clearly poses a flight risk,” Linder said.

Judge Corey Amanda Cawthon ordered Mahmoud to be held in jail without bond because of the violation charges.

Mahmoud