Local News

UPDATE: 3 Day Manhunt Ends With Death of Escaped Inmate

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Tony Maples Photography

 

Pinned down in the brush and carrying at least three stolen guns, escaped inmate Jake Childers chose to end it in a fiery hail of bullets Tuesday night, December 27th.

Surrounded by over 100 law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies and caught in the spotlights of two helicopters, Childers apparently decided to commit “suicide by cop” rather than return to jail. He opened fire on members of the Texas Department of Public Safety SWAT team striking one. A firefight ensued. The officer, wearing ballistic protective gear avoided injury when the bullet hit his magazine pouch cracking it.

Sources on the scene said the DPS SWAT team did “one hell of a good job.”

Escaped Inmate Jake Childers

Photo: Facebook/Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office

Early in the day, officers used dogs to track Childers. When they found an injured tracking dog they assumed the dog had been shot and rushed him to the vet. The veterinarian discovered the dog had not been shot. Instead, the dog had been beaten nearly to death.

Childers escaped on Christmas Eve from a Live Oak County patrol unit near the jail while returning from a visit to the hospital. The night before Childers started a fight with four jailers, holding one hostage with a sharp piece of plastic to the throat.

SWAT team members approach a building with a gunman inside.

Photo: By The U.S. Army (SWAT Teams at Fort Hood) 

A witness spotted Childers East of Campbellton on Monday, December 26th. Law enforcement officers held him trapped in the brush until the fateful conclusion of the standoff Tuesday night a little after 9 p.m.

Texas Rangers will be continuing this investigation.