Ten inmates considered "armed and dangerous" escaped a New Orleans jail Friday morning, and it's believed they had inside help, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office said. Two inmates have been captured, and eight remain at large.
Earlier, the sheriff's office had said 11 inmates had escaped the jail but updated the count later on Friday. Keith Lewis was incorrectly identified as an escapee, Sheriff Susan Hutson said during a news conference.
"There's no way for anyone to get out of this facility without help from the outside," Hutson said.
The inmates were discovered missing during a routine head count conducted at 8:30 a.m. local time at the Orleans Parish Jail, according to the sheriff's office. They are believed to have escaped sometime just after midnight.
The sheriff said that around 12:23 a.m., the inmates yanked the sliding jail cell door off the track and at 1:01 a.m., they exited the jail after breaching a wall behind a toilet.
The toilet and bolts were removed using toiletry items, the sheriff said, but didn't specify what the items were. The inmates then scaled down a wall and ran across the interstate.
The Orleans County Sheriff's Office on Friday night released security video of the extraordinary escape, which shows the inmates sprinting out of the prison and then traversing the freeway.
The escaped inmates also scrawled obscene messages for the guards. One, which was misspelled, read "to easy, LOL."
On the delay in discovering the breakout, Hutson said: "You gotta go inside the facility to be able to see, they could have been anywhere. Then we had to first prioritize talking to victims to make sure they were safe."
Hutson said it's believed the escapees received help from jail staff or deputies.
"We do acknowledge, there is no way, people can get out of this facility without there being some time of lapse in security," Hutson said.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said one inmate has since been apprehended in downtown New Orleans through facial recognition, caught by a surveillance camera. Louisiana State Police identified the escapee as Kendell Myles and said Myles tried to flee on foot before being apprehended "without further incident."
The sheriff's office said deputies found Myles hiding beneath a car at the Hotel Monteleone parking garage. He was returned to the Orleans Parish Jail and is being rebooked with a new charge of simple escape, the sheriff said.
A second inmate, Robert Moody, was also captured Friday and taken back into custody, OPSO press officer Casey McGee said.
The rest of the escapees are believed to be in New Orleans, police said. The Orleans Parish Jail was on lockdown.
A jail cell at the Orleans Parish Jail. The sheriff's office said 10 inmates escaped from the facility. One inmate was captured shortly afterward, multiple law enforcement agents launched a manhunt to locate the others.
photos courtesy Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office
"A search for the individuals is currently underway, OPSO is working with local and state law enforcement agencies on the search to return them to custody," the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Kirkpatrick said during a news conference that New Orleans police, including their violent offender warrant squad; the FBI and the U.S. Marshals joined the hunt to find the escaped inmates — all violent offenders being held on the same jail tier. The Louisiana State Police were also searching.
Police were still waiting midday Friday for a complete set of photos of the escaped inmates, Kirkpatrick said. She said they notified some victims of the escapees, several of whom are facing murder charges or other violent charges. Police removed a family from their homes and took them to safety in the wake of the jailbreak, Kirkpatrick said.
One of those escaped inmates is Derrick Groves, who was convicted of murder in a 2018 Mardi Gras shooting.
A jail cell in Orleans Parish from which 10 "armed and dangerous" inmates escaped.
photos courtesy Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office
She asked the public to notify police if they were victims or witnesses at the escapees' trials so they could get help.
She said the escapees probably had help, and it was unlikely they were still in their jumpsuits.
Kirpatrick warned the public that if they harbor or help these escapees, "they will be charged."
The sheriff's office is laying some of the blame on the city for not funding prison security upgrades, claiming it has been asking for help for five years. Hutson told reporters that replacing the locks alone at the parish's prison facilities is estimated to cost $5.2 million.
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Cara Tabachnick