BATON ROUGE, La. – Two teenage murder suspects escaped from a Louisiana holding facility Saturday night. They were identified as 17-year-old David Atkins and 17-year-old Willie Jackson. This was the second time in the past two weeks that Atkins has escaped.
Atkins and another teen offender — 17-year-old Jeremiah Green — broke out of the East Baton Rouge Parish juvenile detention facility on Nov. 14, but law enforcement authorities ultimately recaptured them a little more than 24 hours later. On Saturday night, Atkins and Jackson managed to wrangle their way out of the facility and they remain on the loose as of Monday morning, according to authorities.
Atkins was being held on first-degree murder charges filed by the Baton Rouge Police Department. Jackson was being held on a murder beef filed by the sheriff’s office, reported The Advocate.
The Baton Rouge Police Department warned the public that both juvenile defendants should be considered armed and dangerous.
David Atkins, 17, was being held on a murder charge when he escaped from a Baton Rouge juvenile detention center for the second time this month. (Baton Rouge Police Department)
In a news release issued shortly before midnight Saturday, officials said they were investigating how the escape occurred. Baton Rouge Police and the U.S. Marshals Service were searching for the pair of accused killers.
On Nov. 16, District Attorney Hillar Moore III filed motions for Atkins and Green to be transferred to a more-secure facility. According to the motion, Atkins is accused of murdering Gregory Cotton, 28, and attempting to murder Kentrell Maloid. Green is accused of attempting to murder Cortia Risen, The Advocate reported.
It’s unclear who Jackson is accused of murdering, according to The Advocate.
On Monday, the Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office said in an emailed statement to Fox News Digital, “We don’t staff the Juvenile Detention Center. It is staffed by Juvenile Justice personnel. It is also inside the city limits, so the escape is being handled by the Baton Rouge Police Department.”
“The search is still ongoing,” Baton Rouge Police said in an emailed statement to Fox on Monday morning and referred specific questions to the Juvenile Detention center or mayor’s office.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Capital Region Crime Stoppers (225)-344-7867 or 911.
Willie Jackson, 17, is the second inmate who escaped over the weekend. (Baton Rouge Police Department)
The Baton Rouge Police Department issued a press release over the weekend indicating the pair may have altered their hairstyles and warned the public not to approach the suspects if they are spotted.
On Sunday, District Attorney Hillar Moore III told The Advocate that a combination of understaffing and an increase in incarcerated violent offenders has led to repeated escapes and violence in the facility, topics that have been previously reported by the news outlet.
“This is a serious issue. Someone’s going to get hurt again,” he said Sunday. “And we just have not been able to move forward.”
