Seven convicts who escaped from prison two weeks ago were accused in the slaying of a police officer who was shot as he tried to break up a Christmas Eve robbery at a sporting goods store.
Capital murder charges were filed against all seven convicts, who remain on the loose.
Officer Aubry Hawkins, 29, was gunned down shortly after arriving at Oshman's Sporting Goods in response to a call from a store employee.
The robbers were tying up and handcuffing store employees when Hawkins was shot. Police would not say if there was an exchange of gunfire.
“This was a well-planned and executed robbery,'' Police Chief Lowell Cannaday said.
The robbers escaped in a Ford Explorer stolen from an employee, police spokesman Lt. David Tull said. It was later found in Irving, a Dallas suburb.
The convicts - two of whom were serving time for murder - broke out of the state prison at Kenedy, about 280 miles from Irving, on Dec. 13, leaving behind a note that read, “You haven't heard the last of us yet.''
In the breakout, the convicts stormed a guard tower and stole 14 .357 Magnum pistols with 238 rounds of ammunition, a loaded automatic rifle and a loaded shotgun. They also took street clothes and wallets from some prison employees.
Tull said he did not know if the robbers took any guns or ammunition from the sporting goods store. Hawkins' gun could not immediately be found, the police spokesman said.
Hawkins is only the second Irving police officer to die in the line of duty. An officer was struck and killed by a drunken driver in 1993.