Officials in North Carolina are searching for an inmate convicted of killing a 1-year-old girl after he escaped while being taken to a medical facility Tuesday in Hillsborough, North Carolina.
Ramone Alston, 30, was convicted in the Christmas Day 2015 murder of 1-year-old Maleah Williams, a bystander fatally struck when someone opened fire from a vehicle in Chapel Hill. His defense said Alston was there but did not kill the girl. Two other men were arrested, but only one has been targeted for prosecution.
The girl was playing outside her apartment when gunfire erupted, authorities said.
Alston was convicted of first-degree murder in 2018 and sentenced to life behind bars, according to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction. He was assigned to Bertie Correctional Institution in Windsor, officials said.
The department said in a statement that Alston arrived about 7 a.m. Tuesday in a prison transport van to the University of North Carolina Medical Center's gastroenterology unit, where he had a medical appointment.
The statement said, "He had freed himself from leg restraints and, still in handcuffs, jumped out and ran into adjacent woods."
Keith Acree, communications director for the Department of Adult Correction, told NBC affiliate WRAL of Raleigh that Alston was wearing a waist chain and handcuffs when he fled.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office, which has jurisdiction in the area, said he was wearing a gray T-shirt, brown pants and white New Balance tennis shoes.
State prison officials noted that he has friends and family in the Hillsborough area, part of the state's Research Triangle of major universities.
Authorities established a perimeter covering at least a one-mile radius around the location of the escape, the Department of Adult Correction said. Neighbors were urged to keep doors and windows closed and to stay inside if possible.
The department said it was offering $25,000 for information leading to his location and recapture.
"We know that there are people out there who know where he is and probably have information to share," Acree told WRAL.
