Associated Press
BEAUMONT, Texas — The FBI issued a nationwide alert Thursday for a convicted killer who remained at large for a second day after escaping from a Texas prison through a hole he widened around a ceiling light fixture.
Harold Laird, 26, was believed to be driving a pickup truck reported stolen shortly after he fled early Wednesday from the state prison near Beaumont, about 80 miles east of Houston. Inside the truck was a .22-caliber rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition.
"The inmate is extremely agile, cunning and persuasive," prison spokesman Larry Todd said. "He is probably desperate at this stage, and knowing that he is armed, we consider him very dangerous."
Laird had been locked up 23 hours a day at the prison because of his history of combative behavior and escape attempts, authorities said. Officers checking on Laird found him missing from his cell about 6 a.m. Wednesday. Instead of Laird, they found a dummy he had tried to fashion in the cell.
Laird was sentenced to life in prison at age 17 for killing Douglas Redd, 59, a former homeless man who had befriended Laird and taken him into his home. Redd and a female companion were robbed and shot to death.
Authorities said Laird escaped his cell through a hole he had widened around the fluorescent light fixture in the ceiling of his cell.
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