Inmates on the run after killing guards

ATLANTA — Two Georgia inmates who killed their guards and escaped from a prison bus have stolen a second vehicle as they try to stay ahead of a massive manhunt, a sheriff said Wednesday.

Donnie Russell Rowe, serving life without parole, and Ricky Dubose, who has prominent tattoos on his face and neck, took a white pickup truck from an industrial site sometime between 6 p.m. Tuesday and 6 a.m. Wednesday, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said.

Sills described the two as violent repeat offenders and extremely dangerous, having taken the guards’ 9 mm pistols. He urged anyone who sees them to call 911 immediately.

“They just murdered two corrections officers in a brutal fashion,” Sills said. “They’re not concerned with anything regarding human life.”

Immediately after the killings early Tuesday, the pair carjacked a driver who happened to pull up behind the bus on a rural highway. They took off with the Honda driver’s phone, leaving 31 other inmates locked in the bus with the two dead guards, and were gone by the time help arrived.

Hours later, authorities converged on the small city of Madison, about 25 miles to the north, where they determined the fugitives had ransacked a house around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Sills said they took food, a pickup truck and likely some clothes, since they left their prison uniforms behind.

Sills agreed with reporters that Dubose will have trouble hiding his prominent tattoos, which include crowns above his eyebrows, a star below his right ear and graffiti-style letters all across his neck.

Both inmates were serving sentences for armed robbery and other crimes.

The Department of Corrections website indicates Rowe has been serving life without parole since 2002, and Dubose began a 20-year sentence in 2015.