Jail Escapee Slays Wife, Daughters; Is Killed by Police
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LAS VEGAS — A robbery suspect who escaped from jail earlier this month shot and killed his wife and young daughters Sunday before police broke into an apartment and shot him to death.
The shootings came after police tracked inmate Timothy Lee Blackburn, 25, to an east Las Vegas complex and tried unsuccessfully for three hours to negotiate his surrender early Sunday.
Las Vegas Metro Deputy Chief Kyle Edwards said that as SWAT officers were negotiating with Blackburn, they heard a series of shots. Police broke into the apartment and found Blackburn in the process of shooting his wife.
Two officers fired and killed him; the woman was already dead.
Police found the bodies of Blackburn’s daughters, ages 4 and 5, in a bathtub. They had been shot.
Blackburn escaped from the North Las Vegas Jail on Aug. 11 with the help of an accomplice who used a drill to dislodge thick glass separating visitors from inmates in the visiting area.
Blackburn was being held in connection with the Dec. 21 robbery of $1.1 million from an ATM repository at a Bank of America vault in Las Vegas.
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