Police: Escapee wanted after man killed while trying to provide aid after wreck
Published 1:21 pm Tuesday, April 25, 2023
A 61-year-old man was killed while trying to provide aid to a man believed to be an escaped detainee who had wrecked a stolen motorcycle in Jackson.
According to Jackson police, at 7 p.m. on Monday, officers responded to “an unknown trouble” in the area of I-55 South Frontage Road and Old Byram Road.
Once on the scene, officers found a black man lying face up in the road. Upon further investigation, it was revealed the man, identified as 61-year-old Anthony Watts, pulled over on the side of the road to help a white man who appeared to have wrecked a motorcycle that he had stolen moments earlier.
The suspect shot Watts several times, police said, then stole his red Dodge Ram 1500 truck. The truck has tan trim and a Cowboys sticker on the front and the back.
“Please proceed with caution when approaching this vehicle,” police cautioned.
Based on information gathered from investigators, the suspect who stole the motorcycle and the Dodge Ram fits the description of 22-year-old Dylan Arrington, one of the escapees from the Raymond Detention Center.
The vehicle was last seen heading south on I-55 in Terry. He is considered armed and dangerous.
The four detainees who escaped from the Raymond Detention Center over the weekend did so by climbing through the roof of the jail.
Casey Grayson, 24, Corey Harrison, 22, Dylan Arrington, 22, and Jerry Raynes, 51, were discovered missing from the detention center early Sunday morning.
The escape began around 8 p.m. Saturday when the four men broke out of the Raymond Detention Center, a facility near the state capital of Jackson, through breaches in a cell and in the roof, Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones said at a Monday news conference
“(They) possibly camped out on the roof and departed at different ways at different times,” Jones said.
The prisoners had been incarcerated for a range of felony charges, most involving theft.
Jones said one of the prisoners stole a Hinds County Public Works vehicle, which was later recovered in a suburb of Houston, Texas. Investigators also believe a stolen Chevy Silverado is connected to the escape.
“We are actively and aggressively looking for these individuals, and we hope to have them back in custody soon,” Jones said. “We are seeking the assistance of other agencies, including our federal partners, to get them back into custody as quickly as possible.”
In July, a federal judge ordered a rare takeover of the jail after he said deficiencies in supervision and staffing led to “a stunning array of assaults, as well as deaths.” In December, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed that order after the county filed a motion for reconsideration.