Two inmates accused of murder are on the run after escaping from a jail in Raymond, Mississippi, the sheriff’s office said.
Two inmates accused of murder are on the run after escaping from a jail in Raymond, Mississippi, the sheriff’s office said.
“The inmates escaped through a hole in the wall,” Victor Mason, the Hinds County Sheriff, said on Thursday. “No one noticed or heard anything.”
Police believe the hole was made in the wall over time, with metal objects which the inmates managed to acquire.
Prison guards noticed the empty cells of the two inmates, 19-year-old Gerome Montreal Moore and 29-year-old Malcolm Jamal Landfair, after a routine headcount early Thursday morning.
Moore was being held on capital murder and carjacking charges, while Landfair was being held on charges of murder and house burglary, police said.
Moore has a history of escape and both suspects have ties to the Jackson, Mississippi, area, the sheriff’s office said.
Officers scoured the prison for two to three hours on Thursday after the inmates went missing before drug sniffing dogs were bought in to help with the search efforts. Police dogs were able to sniff a trail to the prison fence, where officers believed the inmates escaped, police said.
Law enforcement officials said they consider the inmates dangerous but not armed, and believe they are still in the Jackson, Mississippi, area.
An “aggressive” 15-person manhunt is currently underway with the assistance of a U.S. Marshal task force, Mason told CNN.
The Hinds Country Sheriff’s Office released a statement accepting full responsibility for the incident and said that law enforcement officials are doing everything in their power to apprehend the escapes and return them to custody.
