7 Texas Prison Escapees Charged With Police Officer’s Murder

Seven convicts who escaped from prison two weeks ago have been accused in the slaying of a police officer who was shot as he tried to break up a Christmas Eve robbery at a sporting goods store.

Capital murder charges have been filed against all seven, who remained on the loose Monday, officials said.

Officer Aubry Hawkins, 29, was gunned down shortly after arriving at Oshman’s Sporting Goods in response to a call from a store employee, police said.

The robbers were tying up and handcuffing store employees when Hawkins was shot, officials said. Police would not say whether there was an exchange of gunfire.

“This was a well-planned and executed robbery,” Police Chief Lowell Cannaday said.

The robbers escaped in a Ford Explorer stolen from an employee, said Lt. David Tull, a police spokesman. It was later found in Irving, a Dallas suburb.

Officials said the convicts--two of whom were serving time for murder--broke out of the state prison at Kenedy, about 300 miles from Irving, on Dec. 13, leaving behind a note that read, “You haven’t heard the last of us yet.”

In the breakout, the convicts stormed a guard tower and stole 14 .357 Magnum pistols with 238 rounds of ammunition, a loaded automatic rifle and a loaded shotgun.

The convicts also took street clothes and wallets from some prison employees.

Tull said he did not know whether the robbers took any guns or ammunition from the store. Hawkins’ gun could not immediately be found, the police spokesman said.

Hawkins is only the second Irving police officer to die in the line of duty. An officer was struck and killed by a drunken driver in 1993.