Jail Escapee’s Death Now Called Suicide

A jail escapee who shot his wife and young daughters to death as police closed in apparently was not killed by police as originally thought.

Sheriff Jerry Keller said Timothy Lee Blackburn shot himself as police entered an apartment where he had just shot his daughters and his wife early Sunday.

Police initially said they shot Blackburn, 25, during a gun battle while entering the apartment.

Keller also said the SWAT team entered the apartment after hearing a gunshot, which they thought came from the apartment. It was actually an accidental discharge from another officer’s firearm.

Keller said that as officers entered the apartment they saw Blackburn shooting his wife. They found his daughters, ages 4 and 5, shot to death in a bathtub.

Blackburn escaped from the North Las Vegas jail Aug. 11 with the help of his wife, who used a drill to dislodge glass separating visitors from inmates in the visiting area.

Blackburn was being held in connection with the Dec. 21 theft of $1.1 million from an ATM repository at a bank vault in Las Vegas.