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The Texas Seven

© Tony Lacey

Seven convicts escaped from a Texas prison with a promise that the last hadn't been heard from them. How close are the police to re-apprehending the men on the run?

December 24th, 2000 was not an ordinary day for the people of Irving, Texas. That night, Aubrey Hawkins, a local patrolman, responded to a call about a robbery at a sporting goods store. Before he had even left his car, Hawkins had learnt what the American public would find out hours later - that the seven fugitives from a Texas prison who had made the breaking news days earlier, were the ones robbing the store. They fired repeatedly on the policeman, killing him and making off with over $42,000 that night. Already the seven had fulfilled the promise of the note they left behind: "You haven't heard the last of us yet". It is now January, and the men are still at large. The chance is that they may fulfil their prophecy again and there is an apparent feeling in Texas and the surrounding Southern states that people are wary for their own safety.

The 'seven' in question may be one of the biggest threats Texas has seen from fugitives. According to a report on the escape, the seven began on the 13th December, 2000 with nothing more than a home-made knife and a screwdriver ("http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/01/11/texas.e..."). Whilst working at the prison's maintenance shop, the men were given a practically unsupervised lunch-break, during which they put their escape plans in to motion. The seven inmates managed to overpower the guard and workers at the prison, and made off with their weapons, giving them an arsenal of ammunition before they had left the prison grounds. These seven men were serving heavy sentences; anywhere from 30 years to life.

Joseph C. Garcia and Michael Anthony Rodriguez were serving sentences for murder, George Rivas and Donald Keith Newbury both jailed for forms of aggravated robbery. Larry Jame Harper had been in prison for sexual assault, whilst Patrick Henry Murphy, Jr was serving 50 years for aggravated assault. Finally Randy Ethan Halprin had been jailed for assault to a child - he "beat his girlfriend's crying new-born baby so badly that he broke its arms and legs in seven places, pierced an eardrum and fractured its skull" ("http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/..."). The people of Texas are concerned that the seven man are still at large. The weapons at the seven's disposal merely adds to their concern.