A convicted murderer on the run since escaping a prison bus after stabbing its driver last month was shot dead late Thursday after he killed a family of five and stole their truck from a rural weekend cabin, a Texas prison system spokesman said.
Gonzalo Lopez, 46, was killed about 10:30 p.m. Thursday in Jourdanton, Texas, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) south of San Antonio, said Jason Clark, spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
“Law enforcement in Atascosa County located the stolen vehicle, disabled it with spike strips, and gunfire ensued,” Clark said in a statement. No officers were injured, he said.
Lopez was killed about 220 miles (354 kilometers) southeast of Centerville, Texas, where Clark earlier said Lopez had killed a Houston family of five at their cabin and stole their pickup truck.
Lopez was thought to be hiding in the vicinity of the cabin when officers received a call from someone concerned after not hearing from an elderly relative, Clark said.
Officers went to the family’s cabin along Texas Route 7 west of Centerville about 6 p.m. Thursday and found the bodies of one adult and four minors, three of them children. Identities were not released, but gone was their white pickup truck, Clark said. Lopez was believed to have driven the truck from the search area, he said. Lopez was a former member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang and had ties to South Texas, he said.
The family was thought to have arrived Thursday morning at the cabin, which they owned, Clark said. The five are believed to have been killed Thursday afternoon and had no link to Lopez, he said.
Lopez, 46, had been the subject of an intensive search since his escape from the prison bus. He was being transported in a caged area of the bus from a prison in Gatesville, more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of the place where he escaped, to one in Huntsville for a medical appointment when he escaped in Leon County, a rural area between Dallas and Houston, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has said.
Centerville is the county seat of Leon County, which has roughly 16,000 residents and is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of the state’s Huntsville prison headquarters.
The department has said Lopez somehow freed himself from his hand and leg restraints, cut through the expanded metal of the cage and crawled from the bottom. He then attacked the driver, who stopped the bus and got into an altercation with Lopez, and they both eventually got off the bus.
A second officer at the rear of the bus then exited and approached Lopez, who got back on the bus and started driving down the road, the department said.
The officers fired at Lopez and disabled the bus by shooting the rear tire, the department said. The bus then traveled a short distance before leaving the roadway, where Lopez got out and ran into the woods.
At some point during the escape, Lopez stabbed the driver, whose wounds weren’t life-threatening, the department said.
Lopez was serving a life prison sentence for a 2006 conviction of murdering a man along the Texas-Mexico border.
Police fatally shoot Texas fugitive after family of 5 killed
https://arab.news/ndkyc
Police fatally shoot Texas fugitive after family of 5 killed
- Lopez had killed a Houston family of five at their cabin and stole their pickup truck
- Lopez, 46, had been the subject of an intensive search since his escape from the prison bus
Indonesia’s new state mosque to hold first Eid prayers this year
- Mosque is located in Nusantara Capital City on Borneo island, a $32bn project set for 2045 completion
- Famous sculptor Nyoman Nuarta designed mosque, other government structures in new capital
JAKARTA: The state mosque in Indonesia’s planned new capital city, Nusantara, will hold its inaugural Eid Al-Fitr prayer this year, as the $62 million facility opens for its first run of Ramadan programs.
The Indonesian government has plans to relocate the capital to Borneo island to replace the overcrowded and sinking Jakarta on Java island, with the $32 billion megaproject scheduled for completion in 2045.
With a capacity of about 60,000 people, the mosque in East Kalimantan opened to the public last month, at the beginning of Ramadan.
“This mosque symbolizes that we are building the Nusantara Capital City with careful attention to spiritual, social and environmental aspects,” Troy Pantouw, spokesperson for the Nusantara Capital City Authority — the agency overseeing the new capital city — told Arab News on Saturday.
“We will hold Eid Al-Fitr prayers here and we are hoping that it would mark a historic momentum of unity here at Nusantara Capital City.”
Locally known as Masjid Negara, construction of the state mosque began in 2024. Its design was spearheaded by Balinese sculptor Nyoman Nuarta at the request of former President Joko Widodo.
Nuarta is one of Indonesia’s most famous visual artists and creator of the country’s tallest statue, Garuda Wisnu Kencana, located in Bali.
The 72-year-old is also the designer behind other main structures in Nusantara, including the new state palace.
This Ramadan marked many firsts for Masjid Negara, including its first taraweeh on Feb. 18, which was attended by thousands of worshippers in East Kalimantan.
In the same complex where the state mosque is located, the government has plans to build Christian churches, and Buddhist, Hindu and Confucian temples.
Indonesia, home to the world’s largest population of Muslims, officially recognizes Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism as religions.
“A church is now being built in the complex, and in the future there will also be houses of worship belonging to other religions. This reflects Nusantara’s values of harmony and respect,” Pantouw said.
“From the start, this area was designed to represent inter-religious harmony. We want the Nusantara Capital City to stand as a concrete example of how physical developments can be parallel to efforts to build tolerance in society.”
