Prison escapee kills man, grandsons

HOUSTON >> Residents of Centerville had become more vigilant over the past three weeks as authorities searched for a murderer who had killed on behalf of Mexican drug cartels and who stabbed and injured the driver of a prison transport bus last month when he escaped custody not far from their small Texas town.

The search for Gonzalo Lopez, 46, ended late Thursday in a shootout about 220 miles away. He led officers on a brief chase in a stolen truck before he was gunned down.

Authorities believe while

Lopez roamed free, he killed a man and his four grandsons, then stole an AR-15-style rifle and a pistol from their ranch near Centerville, as well as the truck he drove to Atascosa County, south of San Antonio, where he was fatally shot by officers.

“This is something that you can't imagine ever to happen in a small community like this,” said Tuffy Loftin, 61, a pastor in Centerville who knew the family.

Centerville residents had been worried ever since May 12, when Lopez overpowered the officer who was driving him and 15 other prisoners near their community between Dallas and Houston. The Texas Department

of Criminal Justice is still investigating how Lopez broke free from his restraints and escaped a caged area of the bus where he had been held.

Following his escape, law enforcement vigorously patrolled Highway 7 and other roads in Centerville, escorting many of the city's nearly 1,000 residents to their homes to ensure they felt safe.

Jean Davis, 70, who owns a feed and fertilizer store on the east side of town, said her husband wanted her to take a rifle and pistol to work, but she refused.

“The town has really been on edge, especially that first 10 days when he was out missing and nobody knew where he was,” said Davis, who lives about 15 miles away in Buffalo.

State troopers, Texas Department of Criminal Justice officers, the U.S. Marshals service and sheriff's deputies from Leon County — which includes Centerville — searched the area for Lopez for weeks with no luck.

Concerns over his whereabouts were justified: Lopez's long criminal history included convictions for capital murder, attempted capital murder, kidnapping and aggravated assault. Authorities said he belonged to the Mexican Mafia, which is a prison gang, and was a contract killer for at least two drug cartels.