A knife-wielding Texas jail inmate escaped after appearing in a Houston courthouse on Thursday, holding a district attorney’s office employee against her will and attempting to steal her car, according to authorities.
Joshua Nigel Thomas Sanders, 35, was still at large Thursday evening after fleeing at 3:30 p.m. local time, authorities said.
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“He went to court today, and it appears that on his way back from court, he was able to facilitate an escape,” Harris County Sheriff’s Assistant Chief Phillip Bosquez said during a news conference.
“During his getaway, he approached a woman on the street and leaped into her car. He said, “She wrecked that car within a few feet.”
After forcing his way into the car and disabling it, Sanders leaped out and raced down the road. Officials said that was the last time he appeared on camera. The woman who was held at knifepoint was freed safely, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
“She was, of course, shaken up, but she was not injured,” Bosquez stated. The event occurred while the woman was leaving work.
Bosquez reported that three counts of burglary and one count of felonious possession of a weapon had led to Sanders’ arrest.
“We truly believe we’ll run him to the ground,” he stated. The sheriff’s office requested the public’s assistance in finding Sanders.
Authorities are investigating the escape and have not made any assumptions about how he obtained the weapon.
Sanders is said to be 5 feet, 5 inches tall, and weighs 140 pounds. Marines scoured nearby Buffalo Bayou for the culprit. According to Bosquez, Sanders, whom the court labeled a vagrant, has no stable residence, and authorities suspect he is still carrying the knife he used in his escape.
