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Texas Seven
The Texas 7 were a group of prisoners who escaped from the John B. Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas, on December 13, 2000. Six of the seven were apprehended over a month later, between January 22–24, 2001, as a direct result of the television show America's Most Wanted. The seventh committed suicide before he could be arrested. The surviving members were all convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Irving, Texas, police officer Aubrey Wright Hawkins, who was shot and killed when responding to a robbery perpetrated by the Texas Seven. Four of the six sentenced have since been executed, and another has been granted a new trial based on alleged judicial bias.
The group included the following Texas state prisoners:
On December 13, 2000, the seven carried out an elaborate scheme and escaped from the John B. Connally Unit, a maximum-security state prison near the South Texas city of Kenedy.
At the time of the breakout, the reported ringleader of the Texas Seven, 30-year-old George Rivas, was serving 18 consecutive 15-to-life sentences. Michael Anthony Rodriguez, 38, was serving a 99-to-life term for contracting the murder of his wife by Rolando Ruiz Jr., who was later executed for the crime on March 7, 2017. Larry James Harper, 37, Joseph Garcia, 29, and Patrick Henry Murphy Jr., 39, were all serving 50-year sentences. Donald Keith Newbury, 38, the member with the longest rap sheet in the group, was serving a 99-year sentence. The youngest member, Randy Halprin, 23, was serving a 30-year sentence for injury to a child.
At around 11:20 a.m. the seven men overpowered prison workers and guards, took the latter’s uniforms, stole 14 handguns, a shotgun, an AR-15 rifle and more than 100 rounds of ammunition before fleeing north in a prison truck. The victims were left unconscious and tied up inside an electrical room. Rodriguez's father, Raul, had provided the men a getaway car. For this act, he was later convicted of escape and providing implements for escape.
A Crime Library article about the seven compared the breakout to the June 1962 Alcatraz escape that occurred decades earlier.
The white prison truck was found in the Walmart parking lot in Kenedy, Texas. The Texas Seven first entered San Antonio right after breaking out of the complex. Realizing that they were running out of funds, they robbed a Radio Shack in Pearland, Texas, in Greater Houston, the following day.
On December 19, four of the members checked into an Econo Lodge motel in Farmers Branch, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, under assumed names. They decided to rob a Sports Authority in nearby Irving. On December 24, 2000, they entered the store, bound and gagged all the staff, and stole at least 40 guns and sets of ammunition, including $70,000 from the store's safe. An ex-employee in her car outside the store noticed the commotion inside and called the police. Irving police officer Aubrey Wright Hawkins (February 23, 1971 – December 24, 2000) responded to the call and, upon arriving at the scene, was almost immediately ambushed, being shot 11 times and run over by the escaped convicts as they fled the scene. Hawkins died at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas shortly after his arrival. Hawkins had been an officer with the Irving police department since October 4, 1995, and was married and had a son.
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Texas Seven
The Texas 7 were a group of prisoners who escaped from the John B. Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas, on December 13, 2000. Six of the seven were apprehended over a month later, between January 22–24, 2001, as a direct result of the television show America's Most Wanted. The seventh committed suicide before he could be arrested. The surviving members were all convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Irving, Texas, police officer Aubrey Wright Hawkins, who was shot and killed when responding to a robbery perpetrated by the Texas Seven. Four of the six sentenced have since been executed, and another has been granted a new trial based on alleged judicial bias.
The group included the following Texas state prisoners:
On December 13, 2000, the seven carried out an elaborate scheme and escaped from the John B. Connally Unit, a maximum-security state prison near the South Texas city of Kenedy.
At the time of the breakout, the reported ringleader of the Texas Seven, 30-year-old George Rivas, was serving 18 consecutive 15-to-life sentences. Michael Anthony Rodriguez, 38, was serving a 99-to-life term for contracting the murder of his wife by Rolando Ruiz Jr., who was later executed for the crime on March 7, 2017. Larry James Harper, 37, Joseph Garcia, 29, and Patrick Henry Murphy Jr., 39, were all serving 50-year sentences. Donald Keith Newbury, 38, the member with the longest rap sheet in the group, was serving a 99-year sentence. The youngest member, Randy Halprin, 23, was serving a 30-year sentence for injury to a child.
At around 11:20 a.m. the seven men overpowered prison workers and guards, took the latter’s uniforms, stole 14 handguns, a shotgun, an AR-15 rifle and more than 100 rounds of ammunition before fleeing north in a prison truck. The victims were left unconscious and tied up inside an electrical room. Rodriguez's father, Raul, had provided the men a getaway car. For this act, he was later convicted of escape and providing implements for escape.
A Crime Library article about the seven compared the breakout to the June 1962 Alcatraz escape that occurred decades earlier.
The white prison truck was found in the Walmart parking lot in Kenedy, Texas. The Texas Seven first entered San Antonio right after breaking out of the complex. Realizing that they were running out of funds, they robbed a Radio Shack in Pearland, Texas, in Greater Houston, the following day.
On December 19, four of the members checked into an Econo Lodge motel in Farmers Branch, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, under assumed names. They decided to rob a Sports Authority in nearby Irving. On December 24, 2000, they entered the store, bound and gagged all the staff, and stole at least 40 guns and sets of ammunition, including $70,000 from the store's safe. An ex-employee in her car outside the store noticed the commotion inside and called the police. Irving police officer Aubrey Wright Hawkins (February 23, 1971 – December 24, 2000) responded to the call and, upon arriving at the scene, was almost immediately ambushed, being shot 11 times and run over by the escaped convicts as they fled the scene. Hawkins died at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas shortly after his arrival. Hawkins had been an officer with the Irving police department since October 4, 1995, and was married and had a son.