JOURDANTON — Gonzalo Lopez, a convicted murderer who escaped from a prison transportation bus in Texas last month, was killed in a shootout with law enforcement Thursday night in Jourdanton, Atascosa County Sheriff David Soward confirmed.
Lopez is suspected of breaking into a Centerville, Texas home, murdering five people and stealing a white pickup truck Thursday while on the run from authorities.
The Atascosa County Sheriff’s office received information from several law enforcement agencies that Lopez was possibly in the area, which resulted in a heightened alert. He was spotted not long after.
“He is accused of killing a family of five today in Centerville, Texas, so right there tells you exactly how dangerous he is,” Soward said during a news conference near the scene of the fatal shootout early Friday morning. “He was in prison for murder, serving a life sentence already. He didn’t want to go back to prison, obviously, and we knew what kind of person he was and what kind of action he probably was going to take.”
Lopez was spotted traveling southbound on Highway 16 in Poteet in the stolen white pickup truck Thursday evening.
After the license plate was confirmed, Jourdanton police spike-stripped the vehicle, flattening all four tires. Lopez, who was armed with an assault rifle, fired several shots out of the truck’s window.
With authorities in pursuit, Lopez crashed into a telephone pole and hit another telephone pole before crashing into a fence.
The suspect exited the stolen vehicle, firing more shots. Four officers returned fire, killing Lopez.
Here’s video of the news conference from early Friday morning.
Lopez, who was on Texas’ 10 Most Wanted Fugitive list, was on the run from law enforcement since making his escape on May 12 near Centerville.
He was convicted on two counts of aggravated assault in 1996. In 2006, Lopez was convicted of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in Hidalgo County and was sentenced to life in prison. He received another life sentence after being convicted of attempted capital murder in 2007.
“This suspect is also wanted in five murders in central Texas today, as well, so we had reason to believe he was a dangerous suspect and why we took the steps we took to not alert him of our presence,” Jourdanton Chief of Police Eric Kaiser said.
Lopez has ties to the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio areas and was affiliated with the Mexican Mafia, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
