Valley law enforcement officers were preparing to intercept an escaped prisoner had he not been shot and killed last week near San Antonio, according to Weslaco police.
Gonzalo López died in a police shooting near San Antonio last Thursday after being on the run for three weeks.
“He was probably going back to the Valley,” Weslaco Police Chief Joel Rivera said. “I don’t know what his intention was, but he put me, as chief of police, and our officers on high alert.”
Weslaco police say that while Lopez was on the run, police received intelligence updates from state authorities.
Local law enforcement officers were preparing to intercept Lopez on Highway 281 north of Edinburg had he not been apprehended near San Antonio.
Lopez was in prison for a 2005 pickaxe murder in Hidalgo County.
“Lopez kidnapped a Weslaco resident and is being held by what we believe to be drug cartels,” Rivera said. “He was a career criminal. Here at the Weslaco Police Department, even when he was a minor we had dealt with Gonzalo Lopez.”
Authorities say Lopez killed again last week, murdering a grandfather and his four grandchildren inside their Centerville weekend home. The killings sparked the highway manhunt that ended with Lopez’s death.
Since the deadly shooting, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has temporarily suspended inmate transportation while the agency reviews its transportation procedures.
If emergency transportation is needed, additional security measures will be put in place, the TDCJ said.
The agency said it is also conducting a serious incident review and intends to hire an outside firm to identify factors that may have led to Lopez’s escape.
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