Prisoner Recaptured After Using Hidden Gun to Kill 2 Officers

A man being driven to prison to begin a 40-year sentence Friday pulled a hidden handgun and killed two sheriff’s deputies before running off into the woods, police said.

Eric Leondra Snow, 21, was captured almost nine hours later after an intense manhunt involving state troopers, a patrol helicopter and search dogs.

An officer using infrared night vision equipment spotted him hiding behind a supermarket, and he did not resist arrest, Mendenhall Police Chief Michael Mullins said.

Snow had pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault Friday and was being driven to prison along with a woman inmate when he shot the officers in the back of the head and neck, authorities said. Officers said they did not know how he managed to conceal a weapon.

Simpson County Sheriff Doyle King said the woman told investigators that they had been on the road for about 20 minutes when Snow pulled out the gun. She was uninjured and remained in custody.

Jefferson Davis County deputies J.P. Rutland and Tommy Bourne still had their weapons on their bodies when they were found. Both bodies remained slumped over in the front seat for three hours as investigators circled the car taking notes and photographs.