Convicted murderer who escaped prison bus got out of restraints and cage before stabbing driver, Texas officials say

A convicted murderer who escaped from a transport bus last week got out of his restraints and a caged area before stabbing the driver, authorities said. Gonzalo Lopez, 46, is still on the run. 

Lopez, who was serving a life sentence, was being transported to a medical appointment on May 12 in a caged area of the bus designated for high-risk inmates, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said in a statement that offered new details on the escape. The agency also released new surveillance images of Lopez taken on the morning of the escape.

As Lopez was being transported, he somehow freed himself from his hand and leg restraints, cut through the expanded metal of the cage and crawled out the bottom, the department said. He then attacked the driver, who stopped the bus and got into an altercation with Lopez, the department said. They both eventually got off the bus.