The final of the ten New Orleans jail escapees has been returned to jail, following a tip and a law enforcement canine.
Derrick Groves, 27, was apprehended in Georgia on Wednesday around 1 p.m., after almost five months of being on the run. Police found him at a home on Honeysuckle Lane in southwest Atlanta.
Atlanta Police Department Deputy Chief Kelley Collier said that the Atlanta SWAT team discharged “several canisters of gas” into the home to force Groves’ evacuation, according to The Advocate.
Groves was found by a Clayton County Police canine, who alerted law enforcement to the home’s crawlspace, according to Fox 8 Live.
“They ordered him to come out and surrender. When he didn’t, they sent in a canine,” Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, said, according to FOX 8.
“They entered the basement and didn’t see him at first. Then they discovered some boards that were nailed over a wall. They pulled those off, found a crawl space, and put tear gas in the tunnel. That’s when they could hear him coughing.”
It is unclear how long Groves was hiding at the Atlanta home.
According to Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, the apprehension of Groves was completed with no reported injuries, which “brings long-awaited calm to victims, their families, the witnesses who testified, the assistant district attorneys who prosecuted him and the people of New Orleans,” The Advocate reported.
As previously reported by CrimeOnline, all 10 Louisiana inmates escaped from Louisiana’s Orleans Parish Justice Center approximately five months ago on May 16.
The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office said inmates tampered with a defective cell door, which broke open, then breached a wall behind a toilet and fled via a supply dock door. The inmates are also believed to have scaled a wall before crossing the interstate.
Groves was the last of the 10 to be found and arrested. He can be seen in a video smiling and blowing a kiss to cameras as he is placed in a police car.
Officials say that there were other people in the house where Groves was found. An extensive investigation concerning all those who assisted Groves is underway, Waillimas said.
Fifteen pounds of marijuana, a pistol, and a rifle magazine were also found by police, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said at the media release on Wednesday.
This will likely bring additional charges out of Georgia against Groves, according to The Advocate.
The Atlanta Police Department, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Marshals Service, the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Apprehension Team, and the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation all worked to apprehend the escapee and four-time convicted killer.
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[Feature Photo via Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office]
