Hundreds of law enforcement officers in North Carolina searched on Wednesday for a convicted murderer who was serving a life sentence and escaped custody the morning before, according to the state’s Department of Adult Correction.
The prisoner, Ramone Alston, 30, was in a prison transport vehicle at the U.N.C. Hospitals Hillsborough Campus for a medical appointment at around 7 a.m. Tuesday, according to the department. When officers opened the door, Mr. Alston, who had freed himself from his leg restraints, ran out of the vehicle in handcuffs and into the woods, the department said.
As of midday, 335 law enforcement personnel from 19 agencies were involved in the search, which covered 1,335 acres, according to Keith Acree, the communications director for the department.
Police officers had their weapons with them when Mr. Alston escaped but did not fire at him because “it all happened so quickly,” Mr. Acree said.
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“We feel pretty comfortable from a search standpoint that offender Alston is not in the immediate vicinity,” Kirby Saunders, the emergency services director for Orange County, N.C., said of the search around the Hillsborough campus. “We feel comfortable in saying that the community is not in imminent danger or risk right now.”
Authorities said they believed that Mr. Alston had received help in his escape, but they did not elaborate. The $35,000 reward has led to many tips, two of which are “rock solid,” Orange County Sheriff Charles S. Blackwood said during a news conference on Wednesday.
