Photo: Sheriff David Soward / Courtesy
TEXAS – Texas Department of Public Safety officials announced Thursday night that fugitive killer Gonzalo López, who escaped from custody in Leon County on May 12 and that possibly murdered two adults and three children from Houston, has been shot to death by police officers who were pursuing him in the limits of Atascosa County.
According to authorities, López, of 80 years old, was shot to death during a foot chase with police officers near the city of San Antonio. Patrols found Lopez driving a white van that was allegedly stolen in Leon County.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice reported that on Thursday a person called to report that she was concerned about the welfare of a loved one from the third age. Officers went to check the residence where the person was allegedly located and upon entering they found the bodies of two adults and three children.
Authorities reported at a press conference that the family was from Houston and that they were visiting the residence where they were found dead. No details have been given about how the victims were killed, but it was reported that López is the main suspect and that the murders occurred this Thursday.
Before López was shot to death, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced Thursday that five people were found dead at a Leon County residence, near the area where the convicted killer escaped three weeks ago.
UPDATE: Gonzalo Lopez is deceased, according to TDCJ. He was reportedly shot and killed by law enforcement following a chase and shootout in Atascosa County, which is south of San Antonio. https://t.co/BC7vCwjzhw
—KHOU 06 News Houston (@KHOU) June 3, 2022
Two adults and three children were found dead by the Police after a relative called the authorities to go check on their loved ones, according to the Texas Criminal Justice Department.
The caller said that he had not heard from his relatives for several days.
Investigators reported that López stole the victims’ vehicle, a white Chevrolet Silverado truck with DPV license plates4520.
Officers believe that López killed the five victims. Lopez was one of the ten most wanted fugitives in Texas.
The news of the murders came three days after the authorities released new photos of Gonzalo López.
Convict escaped when he was on a prison transport bus en route from Gatesville to Huntsville for a medical appointment on 12 May in León County.
Two officers were inside the vehicle, one in the front and one in the back, which was armed with a shotgun, the Justice Department reported.
“He was somehow able to free himself from his shackles and enter the driver’s compartment of the bus,” the spokesman said. The inmate cut the bottom of a door that separates inmates from the driver, he added.
Lopez allegedly attempted to take the driver’s service weapon, but was unable to remove it from the holster.
During the struggle, the officer who was driving the bus fired two shots at the rear wheels of the bus, so the prisoner managed to drive the vehicle for one approximately a mile with deflated tires before crashing. Lopez jumped off the bus and fled, the department representative added.
Lopez was serving a life sentence for capital murder in Hidalgo County and attempted capital murder in Webb County.