Prison system blamed in Tomball family’s slaying
“You just don’t let somebody get on a bus with a weapon . ... It’s a huge danger to the public.”
State Sen. John Whitmire, D-houston
Gonzalo Lopez rode in a cage on a prison transport bus with two shanks, a metal bar and perhaps a replica handcuff key when he set in motion his now notorious escape that ended with a grandfather and his four grandsons dead at their Centerville ranch.
The convicted murderer, serving a life sentence, had just been removed from administrative segregation, meaning he was considered a danger in prison. Fifteen other Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmates rode on the bus. One corrections officer rode in back; another drove. Lopez was headed for treatment for a detached retina.
Inmates started making noise and singing as Lopez pried open the cage and freed himself from the cuffs. He stabbed the driver. Both corrections officers got out of the bus, at some point shooting at Lopez. They aimed at the tires as he drove away.
This is how Texas Sen. John Whitmire, chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and a Houston Democrat, said the TDCJ director recounted the fatal escape to him. The longtime lawmaker saw in the narrative a “terrible tragedy and terrible failure on the part of the system.”
Whitmire did not think Lopez, 46, should have been on the bus at all. He argued whoever patted down Lopez and put him on the bus failed.
“I can damn sure tell you it was a breakdown — a huge, terrible breakdown — in policy, in best practices,” he said. “You just don’t let somebody get on a bus with a weapon. You don’t let them go to their cell with a weapon. It’s danger to other inmates. It’s a danger to other correction officers. And in this instance, it’s a huge danger to the public.”
The legislator has since called for change: Too many state prisoners are driven around every day, Whitmire said. In his view, the most violent offenders should be housed near the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, which treats prisoners, or treated with telemedicine or a visiting doctor. (TDCJ temporarily has suspended inmate transport except when absolutely necessary to review its procedures.)
Lopez was missing for three weeks when officials allege he found firearms on the Collins’ property south of Dallas, attacked the family and stole their pickup. The home had been searched and cleared several times previously, according to TDCJ. A medical examiner found Mark Collins, 66, and his four grandkids died from gunshots, sharp force injuries and stab wounds.
Police shot and killed Lopez that night about 220 miles away, in Atascosa County.
“We have an ongoing investigation into how Lopez escaped, as well as how (he) eluded our search teams from May 12th until last Thursday,” TDCJ spokesperson Robert Hurst wrote in an email.
Centerville businessman Walter Smith was shocked at the revelation that Lopez managed to go undetected among the rural ranches. He assumed Lopez had made it to Mexico. Smith lamented the lifting of checkpoints along Texas 7, which he believes allowed Lopez to flee the area.
Smith plans to plant sunflowers on the curb of his St. Mary’s Street building to honor the slain boys and their grandfather. The family was well known in Tomball, where the oldest boy had just graduated from Tomball ISD.
Their funeral is scheduled for today in Houston.