Police in Louisiana reported Monday that they had apprehended two of the four inmates who escaped from jail over the weekend, unbeknownst to the guards who were supposed to be watching them.
Omarion Hookfin, 19, Avery Guidry, 19, Jamarcus Cyprian, 20, and Travon Johnson, 21, all incarcerated at the Tangipahoa Parish Jail, escaped on Saturday and Sunday through a weak portion of the jail’s chain-link fence, according to Chief Jimmy Travis of the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office during a news conference Monday.
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The jail’s administrators were unaware of the breakouts until they received a phone call Sunday afternoon from a family member of one of the escapees, Travis said. The family informed them that two detainees escaped Saturday and arrived at a relative’s house in the middle of the night searching for a place to stay, Travis said.
Two other convicts had already fled before jail workers intervened, according to the head.
“This is quite troubling.” If proper head counts had been conducted, we would have known about it right away,” Travis added.
According to the chief, investigators quickly located Johnson and Guidry after getting a call from someone who claimed to have seen them.
Authorities say the couple, apprehended in connection with a 2022 killing in Hammond, Louisiana, were hiding in a dumpster near a Dollar General store about 22 miles from the jail.
Police records show that Hookfin, detained in connection with the same 2022 homicide, and Cyprian, serving time for armed robbery and weapon charges, are still at large and most likely outside of Tangipahoa Parish. Travis said.
According to Travis, the investigation into the breakout is still ongoing as investigators analyze all evidence and clues, but it appears the suspects broke through a rusted section of the fence during leisure time.
“Apparently they made their way, they hid, and after dark, they went under a wall and were able to scale two fences and get away,” Travis said of the Saturday escape.
Travis could not immediately say which detainees escaped; only two fled on Saturday, and two fled on Sunday.
The chief agreed that the facility was understaffed and that some employees were inexperienced, but he claimed that there was no explanation for what occurred.
“We had a failure within that we have to correct and move forward,” Travis stated.
Anyone with information on the suspects should contact Crime Stoppers of Tangipahoa’s anonymous tip line at 800-554-5245 or go to www.tangicrimestoppers.com.
