Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) -- North Texas police officials say a fugitive Florida prisoner was fatally shot early Saturday when he refused to cooperate and lunged at officers.

Alberto Morales was shot in a wooded area of Grapevine, a community near the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. It put an end to a massive five-day manhunt that started when he escaped from a Walmart parking lot after stabbing a detective with his eyeglasses.

Grapevine Police Sgt. Robert Eberling said at a Saturday news conference that officers instructed Morales to lay on the ground and show his hands, but he rushed toward them.

Eberlin says investigators believe Morales had been planning his escape for some time.

Morales escaped while he was being transported to Nevada to serve a sentence of 30 years to life for sexual assault.

(Copyright 2013, The Associated Press)