Escaped Inmates Suspected In Officer's Murder
Murder Warrants Following Escapees
The seven inmates (pictured, above, below), who escaped from the Connally Unit in Kenedy earlier this month, allegedly tied up and handcuffed store employees at Oshman's Supersports USA after it closed Sunday night. The store is located on Texas 183, about 5 miles west of Texas Stadium.
Officer Aubry Hawkins arrived for the robbery call, but he was alone and was shot as he walked near the back of the store, police said.
Hawkins had been with the department since October 1999, was married and had a 9-year-old son.
An employee who was not with the other employees called police from the front of the store at about 6:30 p.m.
Police refused to say if there was an exchange of gunfire or to say how many of the seven escapees were in the store.
A second officer arrived a short time later and called for an ambulance, police said.
Hawkins died later at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.
Authorities said that the robbers escaped in a white Ford Explorer that was stolen from an employee. The vehicle was recovered later in Irving.
"This was a well-planned and executed robbery," Irving police chief Lowell Cannaday said.
No employees in the store were injured, and no customers were in the store at the time of the robbery.
The convicts, two of them convicted of murder, are on the loose and are believed armed and extremely dangerous, according to state prison officials.
When the prisoners escaped from the maximum-security prison on Dec. 13, they left behind a note that said, "You haven't heard the last of us yet," according to John McAuliffe, inspector general of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Investigators said that descriptions from witnesses helped police identify the escapees.
Police said that they didn't know if the robbers took any weapons or ammunition from the store.
Irving police also said they have not located Hawkins' weapon.
The prison system identified the escaped convicts as:
