Many Americans spent Wednesday night preparing meals and setting tables for Thanksgiving festivities. Meanwhile, four inmates spent Wednesday night escaping from a prison in San Jose, California.
The inmates cut the bars off a second story jail cell window and then used bed sheets to climb down. Their escape was not caught on camera because the cell was located in an older part of the prison that was built in 1950 and does not have a surveillance system.
.@SCCoSheriff says 4 inmates escaped the main jail out of this cell window. 2 suspects still at large. pic.twitter.com/EIb34QkxXw
— Michelle Roberts (@Michelle_NBC) November 24, 2016
Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Sgt. Rich Glennon told CBS that he doesn’t think it was a spontaneous escape:
“The fact that these bars were cut the way that they were — it wasn’t something that they just thought of in a minute. It’s something that probably took some previous planning.”
No cutting instruments have been found in the cell or in the surrounding area yet.
Sheriff Laurie Smith believes the tools were fairly advanced and smuggled in during a visit, saying during a news conference:
“To think we have inmates in there with those kinds of tools is pretty disheartening. We don’t know what they are. […] They look like pretty clean cuts.”
Two of the four escaped prisoners were quickly caught and returned to prison, but the other two men are still at large.
The two men who remain on the run were identified as Rogelio Chavez and Laron Campbell.
Chavez, 33, and Campbell, 26, are believed to have been wearing their jail clothing at the time of the escape. Their presumed outfit consists of an orange top over gray bottoms.
Chavez’s main identifying feature is a face tattoo resembling a gash going through his left eye. Campbell does not have a similar distinctive feature but is 6 feet 4 inches tall.
Authorities asked for the public’s help in the capture of the two men. Public tips reportedsightings along the Guadalupe Trail, located about a half-mile east of Levi’s Stadium, home to the San Francisco 49ers. Police bloodhounds were able to detect their scent in the area although the men were never found.
It is unknown if the men are armed, but authorities are warning people to call 911 and not approach or try to apprehend the suspects themselves.
Det. Elbert Rivera of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office told CBS:
“Based on just some of their crimes and some of their history — yeah, I mean, they are dangerous.”
Glennon reiterated the danger, saying that “anyone willing to escape from jail is desperate” and went on to tell the public how rare this situation is:
“There has never been an escape from Main Jail South in this kind of fashion.”
Main Jail South may not have seen an escape before, but in January, three men in a Southern California jail made a similar escape.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of the two men should call 408-808-4500 or the anonymous tip line at 408-808-4431.
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