The Nation - News from May 26, 1987

Four prisoners from California, Colorado and Texas en route to Florida Receiving and Medical Center at Lake Butler, Fla., overpowered their guards east of Tallahassee, took one guard hostage and stole a prison van before being stopped at a roadblock in Lowndes County, Ga., officials said. One inmate was found in the van, dead from a bullet wound to his head, and the three others were captured, Lowndes County Sheriff G. Robert Carter said. Jefferson County, Fla., Sheriff Ken Fortune said both guards were treated for minor injuries. The three surviving escapees will face Florida charges of kidnaping, escape and grand theft of a vehicle, he said.