It's been 14 hours since Eric
April escaped from custody at
Center Roseville Medical Center,
the Plaster County Sheriff's Office says.
At around 3:00 this morning,
April was able to walk out of the hospital.
According to radio dispatch,
it was last seen heading towards Hwy.
65 and then 40 minutes later.
He was spotted about 3 miles away
in Rockland on Rainier Court.
Now Eric April is described as a six
foot tall white man with brown hair.
He weighs 175 pounds.
He was last seen wearing
orange pants and no shirt.
The Placer County Sheriff's Office
Office says April has a tattoo on
his left shoulder of what appears
to be ocean waves and bamboo.
April was first arrested by
Roseville police back on April 6th,
charged with kidnapping,
murder and attempted murder.
The CHP says they were serving a search
warrant on April at his mother's home
in Roseville when he opened fire,
shooting a CHP officer.
Investigators say April
ran into Mahaney Park,
taking two people hostage
and killing one of them.
April has been in the Placer
County Jail ever since.
His last court appearance was June 26th.
Plaster County Sheriff Wayne Wu says
April was admitted to the hospital
on Thursday for an unknown reason.
We have team coverage for you
tonight as this manhunt unfolds.
ABC Ten's Garsh Balsanga is in
Roseville outside Sutter Hospital,
where April made his escape.
But let's start in Rockland with ABC
Ten's Jeannie Nguyen and Jeannie.
You spoke to neighbors who have
surveillance video of the man.
Luke and Alicia, It was right here in
this neighborhood in Rockland where
the Placer County Sheriff's Office says
Eric April was seen walking around
here in the early morning hours.
Now, at this point,
this investigation is still ongoing
here in this neighborhood.
You know, just a few minutes ago,
a bunch of police vehicles
just left this neighborhood.
But the residents here tell me that
they're thankful nothing happened
during his brief visit. It's
a very quiet neighborhood
with. Residents who've been here for years.
That's the general feeling for the
residents in this Rockland neighborhood.
For Dan Mccrossin, he says it's been
this way for the past 17 years.
We love it here.
But around 3:30 this morning,
that piece was disturbed when Mccrossin
saw this person creeping around his yard.
But Crossings neighbor across the
street also saw the same person
walking around his front yard.
He called law enforcement
within a couple minutes that they
called me and said vacate your
premises because they had a swat team.
Rockland PD, Roosevelt PD. Everyone was
here. The Plaster County Sheriff's
Office says that person is Eric Abril,
the man accused of killing James
Mckeegan during the hostage situation in
Roseville's Mahaney Park back in April.
Mckeegan's wife and a CHP officer
were also wounded that day.
Sheriff Wayne Wu says all this started
at the Sutter Roseville Medical Center.
Unfortunately, today,
shortly after 3:00 AM,
Abril was able to escape.
We believe he was last seen wearing
belly chains and orange jail pants.
No shirt, no shoes.
Sheriff who says a Brill was brought
to the hospital on Thursday because of
a medical condition during his stay.
Sheriff who says a Brill was under guard.
A Brill has been under a 24 hour
guard since arriving at the hospital,
but at some point A Brill managed
to find a moment to slip away when
asked if a Brill was shackled,
Lieutenant Ty Connors said.
And as part of the investigation,
that and our internal investigation,
we want to ensure that all policies
and procedures that were followed all
morning, deputies at Sutter
Roseville continued searching,
even checking every vehicle.
That left the hospital,
Even though this was a
close call this morning,
Mccross and still has a positive
outlook for this investigation.
I mean, things happen.
Bad guys get out, they get caught.
Hopefully they don't do
anything else to hurt anyone.
Now, we also reached out to Sutter for
comment, but a spokesperson for the
hospital would only tell us that they're
referring all inquiries to the Plaster
County Sheriff's Office. Back to you.
Martini to Win reporting live
for us in Rockland tonight.
Thank you, Jeannie.
Still many questions tonight about
how Eric April was able to escape
Sutter Roosevelt Medical Center.
Also, how many deputies were guarding him?
Was he chained to the hospital?
That questions we will continue
to press for answers on.
Yeah. Also chilling to see him
just walking almost casually
on that surveillance video.
Now we're going to turn to a
BC Ten's Garsh Paulsanga who is
live right now in Roseville,
outside the hospital,
with more on the sheriff office's policy
regarding inmates in the hospital.
A lot of people have a
lot of questions tonight,
and they do. And Luke and Alicia,
This is the policy.
It's about four pages long,
included in a much bigger
document that outlines what the
Plaza County Sheriff's Office
corrections Division must do when
they bring an inmate to a hospital.
Now, in simple terms with this policy, says.
It's on a case by case basis.
These are the last images
authorities have of Erica Brell after
he escaped from a local
hospital early this morning.
The Placer County Sheriff's Office
says a Braille was admitted to
a hospital Thursday July 6th
for unknown medical condition.
The patient escaped from room 209
since he is in custody that he has a
deputy assigned to that inmate 24 hours
shortly after authorities lost a Braille
that's under the investigation right now.
We'll let that know later on. Thank you.
That was the only piece of information
Plaster County Sheriff's Office gave
about the circumstances before a Brill
left the hospital after a brief chase,
repeatedly avoiding answering questions
about the specific security surrounding him.
ABC10 reviewed the Sheriff's Office
Guarding of Inmates policy which shows
it is on a case by case basis saying the
following requirements will be followed.
An evaluation of the inmates charges,
criminal history and medical
condition shall be done by the.
On duty jail shift Sergeant to determine
whether the need for a guard is required.
The determination shall be based on
the prisoners ability to escape and
the threat posed to the hospital
staff and the general public.
There are instances in California law
where a guard can be removed from an
inmate for medical purposes but it is
unclear if this was one of those situations.
Plaza County Sheriff Wayne Wu assuring
the public they would try to get to the
bottom of how a brell was able to escape.
I know there's a lot of
questions surrounding this case,
specifically surrounding the
circumstances regarding the escape.
Quite frankly,
I have a lot of questions as well.
I can assure the community
that when the time is right,
there will be a thorough
investigation into how this
was able to occur and whether
there are any policy violations.
Now, this document also highlights that
the inmate can have public visitations,
but we're not aware if anyone came to.
Visit Abril since he came to the
hospital again gone July 6th.
Now we wanted to find out what
other agencies across the region
if what their policies are now.
Sources within the Sacramento County
Sheriff's Office tell us their policies.
A little bit more concrete is
that they must have two guards per
inmate at a hospital at all times.
Now we did reach out to Abril's attorney
who's with the public defender's office.
We have not heard back.
The topic we know you will continue
to follow. Thank you Guard Paul.
And to recap this breaking
news for you right now,
authorities are searching for
an inmate who escaped custody at
Sutter Roseville Medical Center.
He was able to leave the hospital
at around 3:00 this morning
wearing orange pants and no shirt.
He was last seen at around 3:40 AM in
the area of Rainier Court in Rockland.
April is described as a six foot
tall white man with brown hair.
He weighs about £175 if you see him.
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