A man who escaped from a Mississippi jail over the weekend may be connected to the killing a pastor and stealing his pickup truck in Jackson, authorities said Tuesday.
The pastor, 61-year-old Anthony Watts, was shot and killed Monday night around 7 p.m. on Interstate 55 after he pulled over to help a man who had wrecked a motorcycle. Police say that man shot Watts several times and then stole his Red Dodge Ram. Watts died at the scene.
“Based on information gathered from investigators, the suspect … fit the description of 22-year-old Dylan Arrington,” Jackson Police Chief James E. Davis said.
Earlier Tuesday, the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that “one of the escapees could be possibly responsible for this incident” but authorities could not yet confirm that and were still investigating.
Arrington is one of four prisoners – along with Casey Grayson, Corey Harrison and Jerry Raynes – who escaped Saturday night from the Raymond Detention Center, a facility near Jackson, through breaches in a cell and the roof. Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones said the men might have camped out on the roof before fleeing the facility and going their separate ways.
The four were in custody for various felony charges, most involving theft. Arrington had charges of auto theft and illegal possession of a firearm, the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office said.
Watts’ stolen Red Dodge Ram, which has tan trim and Cowboys stickers on the front and the back, was last seen heading south on I-55 in Terry, Mississippi, police said.
Jones said one of the prisoners stole a Hinds County Public Works vehicle that was later recovered in a suburb of Houston. Investigators also believe a stolen Chevy Silverado is connected to the escape. None of the men had been captured as of Tuesday afternoon.
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.
Church members at St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church in D’Lo told CBS affiliate WJTV they’re deeply saddened by the death of Watts.
“We are all in some sort of grief moment, but we know that God has the upper hand. We cast all of our cares upon him because he cares for everything that we have to go through, we have to deal with, even in this,” said Reverend Carl Burton, associate pastor at St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church.
Church member Vivan Ross told the station: “Reverend Watts was a person that loved everyone. He didn’t meet no stranger. He would help you, do anything he could for you. He just loved everyone, and we loved him.”
