(New York) Schools near Philadelphia, in the northeast of the United States, were closed again on Tuesday and residents were asked to stay at home by police, on the 13e day of tracking a “dangerous” criminal who escaped from prison, now “armed”.
The latest episode in this manhunt, increasingly embarrassing for the authorities, Danelo Cavalcante, 34, entered a property in South Coventry, about 50 km northwest of Philadelphia, on Monday evening, and grabbed a 22 long rifle that was in the garage, Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police announced Tuesday morning.
According to the police officer, the owner shot the fugitive, without injuring him, when he managed to escape.
Sentenced in mid-August to life in prison for stabbing his former girlfriend to death, “Cavalcante is considered armed and extremely dangerous,” he warned, specifying that the rifle was equipped with “a telescope and a lamp.
As the hunt intensifies, residents have once again been called upon to close the doors of their homes and vehicles, and “stay inside” their homes, in this large, rural and wooded suburb of Philadelphia. Like last week, several local schools are closed on Tuesday.
The police have installed several roadblocks and are controlling the comings and goings of vehicles, noted an AFP photographer. Armored vehicles and police rapid response teams (SWAT) were deployed.
” Stressful ”
“Our farm is flown over by helicopters, and there are a lot of police forces. “It’s really a manhunt, there are (police officers) walking through the property, through the woods,” Becki Patterson, manager of Lundale Farm, a neighboring farm, described by telephone to AFP. .
The farm covers more than 220 hectares, and “there are trees, streams, bridges, all kinds of places to slip into. So it’s really stressful,” she adds, judging that the “police are doing an incredible job” in difficult terrain.
Almost two weeks after the escape of the Brazilian criminal, the time is getting longer and longer for the police, who have positioned hundreds of agents on the ground, supported by helicopters, drones and search dogs.
PHOTO PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE DEPARTMENT, PROVIDED BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Danelo Cavalcante
Cavalcante was spotted several times on video surveillance cameras, but each time he was able to escape from the search perimeters set up by the Pennsylvania police, supported by the FBI and US Marshals, specialized in tracking fugitives.
Wanted in Brazil
On Sunday, new photos were released, dating back to the previous night, where the fugitive appears clean-shaven, presumably to change his appearance after the publication of a wanted notice in which he had a black beard.
Cavalcante also managed to steal a white van, found abandoned on Sunday, probably because he was low on gas.
According to police, he sought help from two acquaintances, who notified authorities. His sister, illegally present in the United States, was arrested.
The Brazilian, a small man of about 1.52 m and 54 kg according to a wanted poster, managed to escape on August 31 from the Chester County jail, a 40-minute drive south of the current one. search area.
The escape, video of which was recorded by a prison camera and released by authorities, was as spectacular as it was embarrassing for prison officials.
In the extract, we see the prisoner, white t-shirt, blue pants and white sneakers, hiding in a recess of the exercise yard, then climbing agilely, spider-man style, his body horizontally between two walls , and disappear onto the roof.
The inmate was sentenced on August 22 to life in prison for stabbing his former girlfriend to death, in front of the victim’s child, during an argument in April 2021.
According to the police, he is also wanted for a murder committed in Brazil, which is why he fled his native country, first to Puerto Rico, where he obtained false papers, then to the northeast of the United States. United States, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, which followed his trial.