Police End Ruthless Cartel Killer’s Brutal Rampage

Cartel

A convicted killer for a Mexican Cartel who broke out of a Texas prison bus in May was shot dead by police on the evening of June 2nd. Unfortunately, it was too late for the family of five — including four children– he reportedly killed inside their home.

Gonzalo Lopez, 46, who had been on the run following his May 12 escape, was killed in a shootout in a residential area of Jourdanton, Texas, at about 10:30 p.m., the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.

Just prior to Lopez’s death, he had been named the prime suspect in the murder of one adult and 4 children in Centerville, about 250 miles from the scene of his last fatal encounter with law enforcement, authorities said.

Gonzalo Lopez was thought to be driving a white Chevrolet Silverado that he drew from the family’s house, according to police. TDCJ/Twitter

Lopez was ultimately spotted by police driving a white Chevrolet Silverado that he stole from the murder scene.

Officers gave chase and Lopez crashed into a tree after running over spike strips. According to Jason Clark, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, he then exited the truck and started shooting at officers, who returned fire, striking and killing him.

No police officers were injured in the gunfight. Clark, at a Thursday night interview, said Lopez was armed with a rifle and handgun, which were thought to have been stolen from the home of the murdered family.

The identities of the victims were not revealed on Thursday night. It is known that they were from Houston, but, they stayed at their Centerville home, on weekends reports said.

UPDATE: According to The Daily Mail, the victims were later identified as “Mark Collins, 66, and his grandsons Waylon, 18, Carson, 16, and twins Hudson and Bryson, 11, ” They further reported that according to the US Marshals, Lopez was associated with the Mexican mafia.

Detectives were tipped off about the quintuple murder by somebody who grew concerned when they had not spoken with an elderly relative, authorities said.

Cartel
Gonzalo Lopez was last seen in the location where the murders occurred prior to he was eliminated in the shootout with cops.TDCJ/ Twitter

The cartel killer had successfully evaded capture after he managed to slip out of his restraints on the inmate-filled bus, stabbing the driver before running into the woods in Leon County– a rural area in between Dallas and Houston that has a population of about 16,000.

The prisoner, who was serving a life sentence for a 2006 murder connected to a Mexican cartel, was being transferred to Texas’ prison in Huntsville– about 50 miles north of Leon County– for a medical checkup when he made his escape, authorities stated.

Before the fateful encounter with police that ended in Lopez’s death, Robert Hurst, TDCJ public information officer spoke to Click2Houston, and described just how dangerous a man the known cartel associate was.

 “He is a very dangerous person. He killed a man in 2005 with a pick-axe after kidnapping the man and asking for a ransom for his return. When that was not done, he killed the man. He also had an accomplice and we still do not know who that was.”

H/T The New York Post, Click2Houston, The Daily Mail

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