Arsonist who killed two Calgary kids escapes from prison in B.C.
A man convicted of killing two children and injuring their mother when he firebombed their southeast Calgary townhouse in 2004 has escaped from a minimum security facility in B.C., according to the Correctional Service of Canada.
Staff at the Mission Institution discovered that Michael Douglas Sheets was missing during the 7 p.m. count on Saturday evening.
Mission RCMP have issued an arrest warrant for the escaped inmate.
Sheets, 48, is five foot six and weighs 141 pounds. He has a fair complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair, according to a correctional service news release. He may also be going by the name John Hala.
Sheets is serving a sentence of 14 years and six months for manslaughter, arson and escape, as well as other offences.
He was sentenced after being convicted of manslaughter and arson in connection with the 2004 incident, in which the former crack addict was involved in throwing a rock and Molotov cocktails into the Applewood home of five-year-old Ali Al-Mayahi and his four-yearold sister, Saja.
The bodies of the two children were burned beyond recognition and their mother, Salima Barih, suffered severe smoke inhalation and broke her ankle jumping from a second-storey window to escape the blaze.
Sheets earned day parole in 2013 but was later sent back to prison after breaching his release conditions and briefly escaping during an escorted outing in February 2015.
Anyone who has information on his whereabouts is asked to contact police.
The correctional service said it is investigating circumstances surrounding Sheets’ escape and is working with the police to locate him.