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“The FBI is the most sophisticated law enforcement agency in the world, pursuing the most dangerous criminals. When a band of escaped felons murders a police officer and terrorizes the state of Texas—they were the worst of the worst—the bureau mobilizes to take them down. They got our faces plastered on the TV. Texas 7 killed a cop; they don’t care who they hurt or harm or maim or murder. They’re still out there.”
“It is a bitter cold Christmas Eve in the sleepy bedroom community of Irving, Texas, just outside of Dallas. 20-year-old Misty Simpson is waiting for something better than Santa Claus; her first child is due to be born within hours. It was just going to be really good because she was going to be born the day after Christmas, so a belated Christmas present.”
“Misty waits in the parking lot of a sporting goods store for her fiancé, Michael, to get off work. He came out and said it’s just going to be a couple of minutes and said he’d be right back. When Michael returns to the store, he walks straight into a nightmare. Two men dressed as security guards ask Michael and other store employees to look at a photo lineup of suspected thieves. The pictures looked real, his badge, his uniform looked real, so I had no reason not to believe that he was who he said he was. Burglaries and stuff, like to make sure—in a second, everything changes.”
“Get that phone down. The next thing you know he’s standing at the front and he holds up a .357 and says, ‘Everyone, this is a robbery.’ But as soon as I took two steps back I felt another gun in the small of my back, so I just stood there frozen. Put your hands… Michael and his colleagues find themselves surrounded by seven armed gunmen. They’ve made the instructions very clear: nobody tried to be a hero. If anybody tries to be a hero, y’all are going to die. Put your hands on your shoulder.”
“The thieves marched the employees to the break room near the back of the store. Walk out. Come on. I thought that 17 lives were about to be taken on Christmas Eve. Outside in the parking lot, Misty can see glimpses of what’s taking place inside the store. I thought there’s no way that this is happening; that’s not something that’s normal. So at that point, I was scared. She calls 911.”
“Rookie police officer Aubrey Hawkins has been with the department just over a year. Yeah, that’s good. He gets a call from dispatch: suspicious activity at the nearby sporting goods store. 10-4, on my way. Hawkins immediately heads to the scene.”
“Back inside the store, the employees are ordered to face the wall and kneel down. Get down. They are bound with zip ties, belts, and rope, and they actually stripped us down out of our clothing, out of our shirts, so that they could use them to wear as like cover. Then the gunman ordered the store manager to open the safe, which they quickly empty. We had not made a deposit in three or four days, so we had large amounts of cash in the safe. They take more than $70,000. The others split out; they’re going to the gun department to retrieve the guns. They had already been inside shopping, so they had their clothes, their boots, their sleeping bags, their camping material. They also steal the manager’s Ford Explorer and move it to the rear of the store. They begin to load up the stolen loot.”
“Officer Hawkins pulls up behind the store just as the thieves are exiting through the freight doors. Suddenly gunshots drown out the stone-cold silence inside. I was just praying that it was, it was the police, because if, if it was the police that means help was on the way. Michael has no idea that Officer Aubrey Hawkins has come under intense fire. It was absolutely an ambush. He never has the chance to take out his gun. He never has a chance to return fire. Get in the car! Get in the car! Officer Hawkins is hit 11 times. Immediately the attackers pile into the stolen Explorer and attempt to flee, but Aubrey Hawkins’ patrol car is in their way. One of them drags Officer Hawkins out of the car, gets in his car, backs it back out through the parking lot. With the path now clear, the gunman maneuver their SUV out of the alley; as it does, it runs over Officer Hawkins, drags him along the ground before he becomes dislodged from underneath. They then flee out of the parking lot.”
“Within minutes all available Irving police and medical personnel swarm the scene. Paramedics are worried Misty is about to go into labor, but she refuses to go to the hospital, adamant her baby will not be born on such a violent night. Additional one to two more. The body of Officer Aubrey Hawkins is removed from the crime scene. He leaves behind a wife and 9-year-old son. I wasn’t a stranger to autopsies. I was a stranger to seeing the Irving police uniform—a uniform that I wore all of my career up to that point—being shot full of holes, being full of blood, being taken off of the officer and seized as evidence. You know, and that he had, he had a family and a wife, and that he was never going to be able to see him again. Just days after the incident, I was becoming a brand new father, and I was able to see my child born, and I was able to hold her.”
“Dozens of Irving police officers combed the scene for evidence. They raced to identify the masterminds behind such a well-orchestrated takeover-style robbery. It wasn’t a criminal street gang, because it was much too organized. Thoughts of some kind of militia, some organization like that, because just of the sheer number of people involved, began to, to creep into your mind. An Irving police detective suspects he knows who’s behind the murder. 11 days earlier, seven coldblooded rapists, robbers, and killers broke out of a maximum security unit just outside San Antonio. They’ve been nicknamed the Texas 7, and the FBI has been hunting them down for days. Irving PD calls upon the experts in tracking fugitives: the FBI. Seven is a huge number. I think that the violence ratio exponentially grows with each one of them because of not only what they were wanted for—all those violent crimes—but because they are together, and you’ve got an organized gang of renegades that are running loose in the populace.”
“Danny Deffenbaw, former special agent in charge of the Dallas field office, he’s notified about Hawkins’ brutal murder. A certified bomb technician, Deffenbaw was inspector in charge of the Oklahoma City bombing investigation and investigated the September 11th terrorist attacks. In his mind, these killers are just as unpredictable. They’re ruthless; they don’t care who they hurt or harm or maim or murder.”
“The FBI, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and the US Marshals team up. I saw the list of weapons that they took; obviously, you know, the hair standing up on the back of my head that, ‘Oh man, you know, we’re, we’re in for a bad, bad deal.’ The armed fugitives appear to be following the lead of 30-year-old George Rivas. George Rivas is without question a, a narcissist, and all he’s concerned about is himself and his image and looking smart. Has no concern for anyone else other than himself and looks to further his own agenda. Rivas had been serving 18 life sentences for aggravated kidnapping in association with the takeover robbery of another store in his hometown of El Paso.”
“Rivas knows that Officer Hawkins’ death has upped the ante. We knew if we get cornered in Texas, anywhere in Texas, they were going to shoot first, and if you shoot at us, we’re going to fight you. That’s the reality of it. The Texas 7 are armed, dangerous, and on the run, and authorities know they have nothing to lose. These guys were convicts; they’d been around the block, they knew what time it was, and they knew after Officer Hawkins was killed, the chances of them beating the death penalty in Texas were slim to none.”
“The brutal Christmas Eve murder of Irving, Texas police officer Aubrey Hawkins has the FBI and state authorities in hot pursuit of a deadly band of escaped cons known as the Texas 7. Where they were going to light next and who their next victims were going to be, I think that that probably was the biggest law enforcement fear. The Texas 7 are not your average criminals and have carefully planned every step, beginning with their escape, December 13th, 2000, the maximum security Connally unit just outside of San Antonio.”
“For months, 30-year-old George Rivas, serving life for aggravated robbery and kidnapping, has been planning his escape with six other carefully chosen inmates, his dream team: Michael Rodriguez, serving life for the contract murder of his wife; Joseph Garcia, serving 50 years for stabbing a man to death; Larry Harper, a convicted rapist; Randy Halprin, sentenced to 30 years for severely beating an 18-month-old child; Patrick Murphy, convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; and Donald Newbury, serving life for aggravated robbery. It ran the gamut, as far as these guys—they were all violent convicted felons. Rivas’ plan is for the convicts to break free and disappear into society. I spent a long time picking these guys out. Every guy I picked, every guy I picked, said if they could they’d start life over again and just get a normal job. So we want out. We got to get out, we got to do it. I’m dead serious; I’m not playing. We got to do it smart.”
“On the morning of their escape, the seven inmates are working in the maintenance unit when they systematically overpower nine civilian supervisors and four correctional officers, jumping them one by one as they returned from lunch. As all the officers were coming back, one, two, three at a time… ‘Hey, what’s up, man? Thanks a lot, man. We appreciate you.’ It was just a WWF wrestling, just taking it all of them down. Wherever they showed up, we took every single one of them. The cons removed the victim’s clothing, bind and gag them, and place them in an electrical closet. In the closet…”
“They disguise themselves in the stolen clothes and prepare to overtake the command tower. Ready now. Check, see if anyone’s out there. Good. Same thing, guys, same exact thing. Keep it quiet. George Rivas, now dressed as a civilian maintenance worker, approaches the back gate and is allowed access. The officer was waiting for me. I said, ‘Hello, you know, howdy and everything.’ Went up there and yes, my heart was pounding through my chest. You know, no inmate has ever been inside the guard tower, so that was a big unknown for all of us and that’s why I took it inside the tower.”
“Rivas carefully calms the guard. Oh man, I grabbed the .357 out of the holster. I flipped it open, I said, ‘Is this loaded?’ Loaded? At the same time I saw it was and I flipped it closed and he said, ‘Of course it’s loaded.’ He looked at me crazy, and then I pointed the gun at him and I said, ‘I want your full cooperation and I won’t hurt you; whatever you need.'”
“Rivas and the others raid the tower, stealing numerous weapons, including a high-powered Colt AR-15 capable of penetrating bulletproof vests. Then they steal a prison maintenance truck. By the time the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or TDCJ realizes what has happened, it’s too late. First the call came in that they had one inmate escape, then it was two, then it was three, and it just kept getting worse as the calls kept coming in. Within an hour, the TDCJ sends out an emergency alert to all local, regional, and federal law enforcement in the state, requesting all available manpower. It wasn’t clear what they were going to do, but I was very concerned for whatever community might encounter one or more of these people down the road.”
“The TDCJ sets up a violent crimes task force and assigns an investigator to each escapee and his family. Their assumption that the Texas 7 will look to their families for help: They’re creatures of habit, and they go back to what they know, and that is—I mean if there’s one rule about these guys, they have to go back to what they know, because that’s how they survive. But the Texas 7 are no fools. I made it very clear to them that there is no contact with our families after we get out. One, you’re going to get caught. Two, you’re going to get them implicated and in trouble because they can go for aiding an escaped felon. Two hours after the escape, the stolen maintenance truck is found in a Walmart parking lot less than five miles from the prison. Authorities are immediately suspicious. Obviously our concern was when we found the dumped vehicle that we didn’t have any stolen vehicles out of that parking lot, or so that led us to believe that you know they had some help. An ATM surveillance camera records images of the seven in the parking lot, but there is no sign of their getaway vehicle.”
“The FBI, US Marshals, and the TDCJ widened the scope of the investigation and the perimeter of roadblocks. 24 hours pass with no credible sightings and authorities begin to suspect the Texas 7 have crossed the border into Mexico. Everybody knew that we would go to Mexico, so we went the opposite way. Nine, ten days pass with no solid leads. The FBI and their partners are worried the violent convicts have something sinister planned. Every day that they’re out there, it’s a more concern; the longer they’re out there, the more chance that something bad’s going to happen. The night before Christmas, they land at the sporting goods store in Irving, just outside Dallas.”
“The escapees net 70 grand in cash and 60 weapons, which they add to their growing stockpile. Then they gun down Officer Aubrey Hawkins. They obviously had designs that were sinister. You don’t steal weapons, and you certainly don’t steal that volume of weapons and ammunition if you’re not prepared to employ them, so to speak, in wrongful ways. The heartless murder of Officer Hawkins changes the stakes for authorities. That just devastated me. I mean, that we hadn’t caught them to that point… absolutely probably the worst day of my career, no question. Officer Aubrey Hawkins was shot from three different angles. In all, he was hit 11 times, including six shots to the head. They wanted to make sure that he was dead; they didn’t want to leave a witness.”
“Shortly after the shootings, the Texas 7’s getaway car is found less than a half mile away with bloodstains inside. Investigators analyze the blood; it’s from three different people. One type is matched to Aubrey Hawkins, which means at least two of the Texas 7 were likely shot during the ambush. The blood had actually soaked into the seat bottom itself, so that told us that someone was injured. Whoever had drove away that night had suffered some kind of injury—we didn’t know what—and was bleeding quite profusely. Authorities theorize that the Texas 7 shot one another during the uncontrolled ambush on Hawkins. Investigators canvas all hospitals in the area but come up empty-handed.”
“Frustrated at the lack of leads, Dallas FBI special agent in charge Danny Deffenbaw authorizes a reward for information leading to the arrest and capture of the Texas 7. He offers $10,000 per fugitive, which is immediately matched by the Irving Police Department. If you start upping the ante, you’re going to get a lot of individuals that… well, that might have reached my benchmark of where, ‘Yeah, I can compromise myself and say where they’re at for this kind of money.'”
“The pool eventually reaches a half million, but no one comes forward. The fugitives have now been on the run for almost two weeks and could be thousands of miles away. They’re still out there. There’s still a growing concern, there’s still that threat of violence, and they’re somewhere.”
“It’s late December 2000, and seven escaped felons remain on the run after taking 19 store employees hostage and shooting a police officer to death in Irving, Texas. Two of the seven, Randy Halprin, convicted of severely beating a child, and mastermind George Rivas, were shot while ambushing the officer. I really didn’t expect to wake up in the morning, so I told the guys that if I did die in the middle of the night, to block off the tub, lay me inside the bathtub, go to the three ice machines, fill it up, put me in there, fill me up to my head with the ice, turn on the AC, block off the vents except for the restroom, go pay for three days, put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door. You guys got three days before they find me in this bathtub.”
“Determined to stay free, the others treat Halprin’s wound, then tend to Rivas. Convicted robber Donald Newbury sews up Rivas’ wounds with dental floss. I put a leather belt in my mouth and the other guys held down my arms and my legs, and he went to cleaning out the fragments of the bullets and then started sewing me up. Despite the setback, the Texas 7 are determined to leave the Longhorn State with nothing but wreckage in their wake. We knew we had to get out before they blocked up the whole city. This is Dallas we’re talking about, you know. We knew we had to get out.”
“Thousands of tips and unconfirmed sightings lead nowhere. Greg Groves, former supervisory senior resident agent in Colorado Springs, fears time may now be on the fugitive’s side. I remember thinking early on, as time ticked away—a week, another week—that they had probably scattered to the seven corners of the earth, because that’s what fugitives normally do. But the Texas 7 have no intention of separating yet. The whole thing was George and I didn’t just want to break up with everybody until everybody had an ID. If you have an ID, you can get somewhere; you can do what you got to do. While authorities look south to Mexico, the fugitives head west to Colorado.”
“There they purchase a Pace Arrow camper for $13,000, paying for it in 50s and 20s. Then they set up camp at the Coach Light RV Park in Woodland Park. The Texas 7 crudely disguise themselves by changing their hair color and growing beards and mustaches. In spite of their obvious disguises, they begin to blend into the community. They pose as missionaries, shopping around town and going to pool halls, attending Bible study. ‘Your holy one, Israel’s creator.’ Yo, pump the brakes, man. I had everyone always checking the brake lights, the license plate lights, the headlights, making sure all that’s working properly. As long as we operated within the law, I wasn’t concerned about the police at the time.”
“Dallas special agent in charge Danny Deffenbaw issues seven federal UFAP warrants—Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution. It was generated and put into the federal law back into the 1930s, and the reason why is because you had a lot of the John Dillingers and the Baby Face Nelsons who would commit one crime and then go across state lines. The UFAP warrant turns a statewide search into a national manhunt. Mark Mawn, then the FBI’s top agent in Colorado, is tapped to lead the charge. As the incident commander in the Polyclass kidnapping case and the unit chief of the bureau’s fugitive program, former special agent Mawn is familiar with the mindset of violent criminals. The thought that they would go on to lead quiet lives as low-level employees somewhere never occurred to us. As long as they were out there, they were a grave risk to the public.”
“Agents get a break after the Texas 7 are featured for the third time on a nationally syndicated crime-fighting show. The owner of the Coach Light RV Park is among the viewers watching. Now in the murder, but it raised enough concern that he had a restless night and resolved that the next day by reporting his information.”
“The park owner tells the Teller County Sheriff’s Office he suspects several of the fugitives have attended his Bible study class and may be posing as missionaries on his property. Agent Groves is given the tip. Having once worked as a correctional officer for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, he is immediately suspicious. Many inmates, because of the time that they have, do Bible study. The fact that they’re doing that didn’t dissuade me that, ‘Well, then these may be missionaries.’ To me, it seemed these are our guys.”
“Agents descend on the park and learn the suspected fugitives have parked themselves on the highest ground available, and it afforded them a degree of isolation that wasn’t available elsewhere. That was consistent with them, in fact, being these fugitives. The strategic positioning adds to the suspicion that the Texas 7 are finally within the FBI’s grasp. But a takedown inside the crowded park is risky. You have to be very keenly aware of the elevated potential for violence, not only in our confrontation of them, but in pulling civilians—entirely innocent civilians—into the situation, either them deliberately trying to use them as hostages or as collateral damage.”
“By the early morning, sheriff’s deputies from Teller County and neighboring El Paso County are working with the US Marshals and the FBI to devise a plan of attack. Agent Mawn is determined not to make a single move without weighing the risks. We had limited knowledge about what was going on up here, limited sight capacity even with the sniper observers and their high-powered telescopes.”
“The park manager volunteers to help authorities find out how many suspects are inside the RV. He makes his typical morning rounds, greeting the neighbors and sharing a cup of coffee. ‘How you doing?’ When he returned and he was debriefed, he told us there were only two there, and he said that they would be leaving for town shortly in one of the vehicles; the other vehicle was absent and presumably the other fugitive members were in that other vehicle.”
“Before agents can act, they notice a silver Jeep Cherokee on the move, and there’s another surprise. The subject’s Jeep vehicle came down the hill with not two, but three subjects inside, and that certainly caused some apprehension. They turned left out of the RV park and we had a decision to make about whether to take them down and who would take them down. This involves a felony car stop, an inherently dangerous procedure. Authorities have to decide: let the three fugitives go or risk a violent confrontation. You have to be prepared that they’re going to come out blazing guns.”
“More than a month after a brazen prison break in broad daylight, authorities believe the Texas 7 are hiding out in an RV park outside of Colorado Springs. Federal agents prepare to bring them down. You have to structure your plan and your approach to those arrests in such a way that the level of force is pretty much overwhelming, because at the end of the day, convicts are human beings and they don’t want to die.”
“You hope. Just as authorities are poised to strike, three suspects flee the campground in a Jeep Cherokee. The El Paso County Sheriff’s SWAT team follows in hot pursuit. Authorities are growing anxious. The concern was that something needed to be done quickly while we were still in a relatively rural area, and if you get into a high-speed chase going down the mountain toward Colorado Springs, you end up in a very dense urban area within just a few minutes.”
“Minutes later, the Cherokee pulls into a gas station. The SWAT team makes its move, converging on the vehicle and blocking it in. Before they could get out of the vehicle, the El Paso County SWAT team rushed in and with guns drawn froze the entire scene. Nobody did anything in that Jeep except what they were told to do. ‘Hey, get out of the car!’ Guns fell out of the car doors onto the pavement. I actually thought the police was going to kill us right there in the spot, shoot us, ’cause they looked prepared to.”
“Convicted murderers Michael Rodriguez and Joseph Garcia are taken into custody without confrontation; so is the Texas 7’s ringleader and mastermind, George Rivas. There’s little time for celebration. The three of us, four fugitives including a rapist and child abuser, remain on the run. Authorities fear they may be holed up inside the RV, staging a gun battle. Certainly everybody involved is keenly aware that violence could erupt at any moment.”
“Authorities come up with an ingenious plan; they borrow a local sheriff’s personal RV, which they christened the ‘Trojan Horse,’ and drive it into the park, close to the fugitives’ Pace Arrow camper. Special agent in charge Mark Mawn knows the fugitives have an AR-15 assault rifle powerful enough to pierce every RV in the park. He opts to negotiate with them, using a bullhorn to make contact. ‘Come out with your hands up! We identify ourselves, this is the FBI. You’re surrounded with tactical forces of the sheriff’s office and the FBI and the police force, as appropriate. We recognize you’re in there, that you’re armed. We’re here to tell you it’s time to surrender.'”
“Almost immediately, Randy Halprin, who severely beat an 18-month-old child, walks out of his RV and gives himself up. He tips authorities that convicted rapist Larry Harper is the only other suspect inside. For hours, the FBI negotiates with Harper as the tension builds. Finally, Harper vows to give himself up if allowed to make a call to his father, a highly decorated member of the military. We contemplated that, but frankly, out of a concern that he might contact the two remaining confederates who were at that point were at points unknown, we realized we couldn’t do that. Instead, authorities contact Harper’s father themselves, in hopes he might prove to be a valuable negotiating tool. What happens next takes them all by surprise. When the investigators talked to him, he said, ‘What you guys need to do is just kill him and call me.'”
“Before authorities can act, a gunshot echoes out from the RV. Suspecting it could be a trap, officers stand their ground. We think 15, maybe 20 minutes later, as incredible as that sounds, we heard a distinctive thud, and we looked at each other and we both shook our heads and said, ‘That sure sounded like a gunshot.'”
“The bomb squad throws a flashbang, a loud, disorienting explosive, into the RV and moves in. An agent using a pry tool took several attempts to open the apparently locked door to the RV. Would shake the entire vehicle, which caused some of the curtains to move, and that obviously caused a little internal tension about what’s moving the curtains. Is it the agents’ violent efforts at the door or is it the subject inside? ‘Window! Window! Window!'”
“January 2001, 40 days after a daring prison escape, four of the Texas 7 have been arrested. Federal agents have a fifth felon cornered inside an RV at a trailer park near Colorado Springs. After throwing a flashbang inside the RV, authorities force their way inside. There they find convicted rapist Larry Harper’s body. He has shot himself in the chest twice. So that’s extraordinary for someone who has shot themselves in the chest to agonize over that and essentially revisit that decision to do it again and to finalize things.”
“According to Joseph Garcia, Harper’s father knew of his son’s plan to escape and pleaded with him to abide by the law and serve his time. His dad told him, he goes, ‘If you do it, I’ll disown you. I won’t come to see you, I won’t send you no money, I won’t… I just can’t do this no more. I’m too old.’ And Larry knew when we got caught, when he got caught, but it was… there was no coming back, you know? There was… he had no father, he had no more family.”
“Inside the RV, officers find a suicide note upon the pages of an open Bible. They also find chilling reminders of the fugitives’ desperate mindset. They discovered an array of weapons: assault rifles, shotguns, handguns, loaded and readily available for use by these subjects. That is further confirmation that they were ready to ‘get it on,’ as they say. Five of the Texas 7 are accounted for, but two more violent felons remain at large. According to the owner of the RV park, the two remaining fugitives are traveling in a brown van.”
“Two days later, a tip leads investigators to a restaurant parking lot in Colorado Springs. They find the brown van, but its occupants, Patrick Murphy, convicted of aggravated assault, and Donald Newbury, a convicted robber, are nowhere to be found. About the same time, a desk clerk at a nearby motel reports that two suspicious men checked in the night before. They just acted oddly when they checked in; they were kind of masking their faces. The FBI and supporting law enforcement converge upon the motel, determined to take the remaining two felons alive. Authorities calculate every move. We knew these subjects were armed, heavily armed, and there was no attempt to confront them, to breach the room, or to politely knock on the door.”
“Agents evacuate all residents from the hotel. Instead of storming the fugitive’s room, officers repeatedly call them, trying to establish contact. Eventually, Patrick Murphy answers the phone and talks calmly with police. He realizes their chance of escape is nil. They had been preparing for the end for about a month, but they didn’t know what the end was going to look like until they got there. For six hours, the FBI negotiates with the men, telling them it’s in their best interest to give up without a fight. The fugitives finally agree, but there’s a catch. Come on, you let us make a press statement. They first want to make a statement on a live news broadcast. All right, I’ll tell you what. This typically isn’t done during hostage negotiation, but again, very volatile situation, two armed subjects known to have a very violent history, and I said, ‘Let’s talk about this, guys.’ You know, let’s consider the ramifications. If we put them on the air as they requested for five minutes each, we just might be able to bring this thing to a conclusion in a nonviolent sense.”
“The two fugitives refused to take responsibility, telling the reporter that the prison system is as corrupt as they are. What forced me to do this was the penal institution and such. Then, as promised, they surrender without a fight. The last of the Texas 7 is in custody, bringing an end to an 18-day run of robbery and murder. I thought we’d have more difficulty with them as far as not taking them alive or whatever, but to be honest with you, every prison escape, you know, you hear, ‘Oh, they won’t be taken alive.’ And you know, nine times out of 10, they’re the first ones that throw their hands up and beg you not to shoot them.”
“The surviving six felons are returned to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. For authorities, it’s a victory. For the inmates, it’s inconceivable. A nightmare, there’s no way better to phrase that. It was just a nightmare getting brought back. I knew we’re going to be brought back.”
“All six fugitives are later tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death for the murder of Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins. Michael Rodriguez’s father, Raul, is also convicted of aiding the convict by providing the getaway car in the Walmart parking lot near the prison. He is sentenced to 10 years but serves only 5 months. Raul’s son, Michael, is executed 7 years later.”
“The five surviving members of the Texas 7 await the same fate on death row. Like I told my jury, I said that I don’t want another life sentence, because what they call the death penalty, I call freedom. One way or the other, I was going to have it. That’s little comfort to the Irving Police Department, who buried one of their own. He’d been with us just a short time, but law enforcement had been his life. He took great pride in his appearance, in the way he conducted himself, in being the best police officer he could be.”
“And in the eyes of special agent in charge Danny Deffenbaw, the punishment for the Texas 7 fits the crime. Justice prevails. Anytime you take a life, let alone the life of a police officer, my personal opinion is you don’t deserve to exist any longer.”
