Victims Identified in Escaped Texas Inmate Murder Fiasco

The Texas family members police believe were killed Thursday by an escaped inmate with alleged links to the Mexican mafia have been identified as three brothers from suburban Houston, along with a cousin and their grandfather.

Family friends on Friday confirmed that 66-year-old Mark Collins was killed alongside his three grandchildren at the family’s ranch as the group was preparing for a fishing trip. He was with his grandchildren: 11-year-old Bryson and his three cousins, 11-year-old Hudson, 16-year-old Carson, and 18-year-old Waylon.

Collins family

The eldest graduated from high school last week in the city of Tomball, where he played for the baseball team. He also served as an umpire for a local Little League.

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The family was killed just hours before Gonzalo Lopez, who went missing in May after escaping from a prison bus, stole a pickup truck and was eventually killed by authorities in a dramatic shootout just south of San Antonio, over 200 miles from the Collins family cabin.

Gonzalo Lopez

The Leon County Sheriff’s Office, which responded to the cabin, did not name the victims on Friday. But they did provide more details on how the grisly attack went down. Authorities believe Lopez attacked the 66-year-old grandfather before attacking the other occupants inside the house—including the 18-year-old and three minors.

Jason Clark, the chief of staff at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, told The Daily Beast that any motive for the grisly slaying was “unclear.” But authorities say that afterwards, he “stole clothes, firearms, and a vehicle” before fleeing. {snip}

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The family member also expressed outrage over the circumstances that led to the deaths of five of his loved ones—stating that Lopez’s escape and three-week stint on the lam “never should have happened.”

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Authorities said the 46-year-old inmate, who was serving a life sentence for a 2006 murder and attempted murder, went missing on May 12 after he managed to break out of his shackles while on a prison bus, stab a corrections officer, and flee on foot into a cow pasture. Cellphone video obtained by KAGS-TV showed the moment Lopez crashed the transfer bus—which was supposed to take him to a medical appointment with over a dozen other inmates—and fled into the woods.

“He’s got a life sentence for a capital murder, where he killed a man with a pickaxe, and he’s also gotten an attempted capital murder conviction for shooting a gun at a police officer,” Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Robert Hurst said after Lopez went missing, noting that the inmate allegedly affiliated with the Mexican Mafia was “very dangerous.”

For weeks, authorities unsuccessfully scoured the Leon County area for Lopez, who was also added to Texas’ Most Wanted list with a $50,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

But on Thursday, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said they had a break in the case when authorities found the four children and their grandfather inside the cabin alongside Highway 7 after receiving a call for a welfare check. A white 1999 Chevy Silverado was also missing from the home, which authorities believe Lopez used to flee the scene after killing the family, who had arrived at the house just hours prior.

Hours later, Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies spotted the same truck in Jourdanton, prompting them to lay road spikes to deflate the truck’s tires and cause Lopez to crash into a tree. Refusing to surrender, Lopez then pointed a gun out the window and started firing, authorities said. Deputies returned fire and “swiftly shot and killed Lopez,” Clark said on Thursday.

While Lopez fired “several rounds,” no officers were injured in the incident.

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