LAS VEGAS – A Nevada homicide suspect remained on the loose Tuesday, four days after he broke his metal handcuffs and escaped from custody at a Las Vegas-area police station, authorities said.
Alonso Perez was alone in an interview room when he broke the hinge of his handcuffs and escaped with one cuff still attached to his right wrist, Officer Aaron Patty said.
“He twisted them until they broke,” Patty said of the wrist restraints. “This is an extremely unfortunate circumstance. We’re going to take a look at the details of how he escaped. But right now, we have a murder suspect on the loose and our focus is locating him.”
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Perez was identified by police as a suspect in an Aug. 27 shooting that left Mohammed Robinson, 31, dead outside a McDonald’s restaurant.
Witnesses said the fatal argument began with angry words about Robinson not holding a door open for a woman.
Perez, 25, who also uses the name Alfonso Perez, allegedly fled from the police office and stole a Ford F-250 work truck from a nearby parking lot. The vehicle was later found in a neighbourhood east of downtown Las Vegas.
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Investigators do not know if Alonso Perez remains in southern Nevada, got another vehicle or if he is being helped by anyone, Patty said.
Perez was described as 6-foot-3, with a goatee and a distinctive “Air Jordan” tattoo on his neck.
The escape was believed to be the second this year from a police station in the Las Vegas area.
The April escape of Ivan Mayoral-Lizarraga from a northeast Las Vegas police substation prompted a nearly five-hour lockdown of a surrounding neighbourhood before the search was called off. Police said Mayoral-Lizarraga was being questioned in a stolen vehicle investigation when he fled.
He was arrested about two weeks later, and pleaded guilty to felony home invasion, assault with a weapon and escape charges, according to court records. Mayoral-Lizarraga, now 40, was sentenced last month to 2-to-5 years in state prison.