How did Gonzalo Lopez escape from prison? Texas inmate who killed 5 was strip-searched by lax guards

How did Gonzalo Lopez escape from prison? Texas inmate who killed 5 was strip-searched by lax guards
Gonzalo Lopez was serving two life sentences when he escaped from a prison bus and killed five of a five before being shot three weeks later (Texas Department of Criminal Justice)

HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS: Two reports released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, or TDCJ suggest that inadequate strip searches, poorly applied restraints, staffing shortages and an environment in which corrections officers became complacent created the conditions that led to the escape of notorious Texas inmate Gonzalo Lopez, 46 in May. Lopez was serving two life sentences for murdering a man with a pickax in 2006. He was also convicted of attempted murder for shooting a police officer with a gun, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

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Lopez's escape on May 12 near Centerville, about 120 miles north of Houston, sparked one of the largest search efforts for an escaped inmate in Texas history. Lopez escaped after he got out of his restraints and overpowered the driver of a prison bus, stabbing him in the hand. The bus was carrying 16 prisoners. He then killed a family of five, the 66-year-old Mark Collins and his four grandsons - Waylon Collins, 18, Carson Collins, 16, Hudson Collins, 11, and Bryson Collins, 11 - on the family's ranch near Centerville, located between Dallas and Houston which and also stole a truck from a rural weekend cabin.