SAN ANGELO, TX — Several juveniles being held at the Tom Green County Juvenile Justice Detention Center, 1253 W. 19th St. escaped Sunday night after a fight broke out.
“It was an unfortunate incident,” said Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Monica Schniers.
According to Schniers, the incident began at around 9:30 pm Sunday night when a fight broke out between two male juveniles in custody there. During the fight, the kids were able to gain access to the kitchen area by busting down a sliding door. Then, once inside the kitchen, some of the kids procured pans normally used for cooking and used them to break into the Center’s control room. Once inside the control room, the kids unlocked the doors of the cells in the Juvenile Justice Center and let everyone out.
The Juvenile Justice Detention Center is a 25-bed facility where each charge has their own room, according to Tom Green County. Children, ages 10 to 17, being held there are awaiting a court hearing for a crime the minor is accused, or serving a formal probation sentence requiring 24-hour-per-day supervision.
Tom Green County Sheriff’s Deputies and the San Angelo Police Department responded to the scene quickly. Schniers counted the number of kids who escaped as “several.” “But with the help of law enforcement, they have accounted for all the kids who got out except for one,” Schniers said.
A police perimeter area was in operation from the Juvenile Justice Center to Van Buren, and from W. 19th St. to the Houston Harte into the early morning hours.
Schniers said the kid at-large was wearing the signature Tom Green County orange jumpsuit. “Unless he took it off,” she said.
The juvenile who remains at-large does not present a hazard other than to himself, Schniers assured.
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