KTLA News: "Four incarcerated men escape from Federal Correctional Facility..." (1980)

On the morning after, the gate still showed damage inflicted when the four inmates crashed through it in the second break from the Terminal Island Federal Prison in a week. But if there was evidence of the escape at the prison, there was no sign of the men who used a fire truck to break the gate down before escaping in another vehicle. At approximately uh 7:40 p.m. last night, uh four inmates uh uh used the institution fire truck and a half ton pickup truck inside the institution and ran through the uh double side gates of the facility. >> Do you have any uh information now on how they planned their break and how they made it? Uh, no. We uh it's not difficult for them to uh get to the vehicles since they are inside the compound and the they used the fire truck to uh break down the two gates and uh made their exit on the only access road, Seaside Avenue to the institution. They left the fire truck approximately a half mile from the facility and they were observed by an eyewitness uh entering into the truck and the four made their getaway. >> Did they did they hotwire it or how did they >> We don't know that yet. The uh investigation has been turned over to the US Marshall Service and the FBI. down the road. You know, they go home. The four escapees were serving sentences ranging from 10 years down to the less than 3 weeks remaining for one of the inmates. 35-year-old Richard Holly was serving 5 years for interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle. Steven Shu, 19, had just started a 10-year sentence for rape. 29-year-old Richard Davis had 5 months left of a 5-year sentence for forgery. And 21-year-old Royce Davis had 15 days left on his one-year sentence for stealing government property. Life inside Terminal Island Prison is back to normal, but the main topic of conversation among the inmates is they escape. Two of the escapees had only a short time left to serve. In fact, one of them had less than 15 days, which leads to the question, why would anybody with such a short time left to spend in jail decide to break out? And prison authorities say that's going to be the first question they ask him when they take him back into custody at Terminal Island Federal Prison. Mike Botula reporting for News at 10. >> Mr. Hex, could you reconstruct? >> Were they armed? Uh, >> to our knowledge, no, they were not. Now tell me again the there are four there were four involved. Is that correct? >> Yes, that's correct. What is that? It's not Yeah. >> Talking about the escape, the warden's executive assistant said little was known about plans for the breakout. and he talked about the overall security of the Terminal Island facility. And at this point, we don't know. They haven't apprehended the uh pickup truck. >> How How are they looking for the for the suspects? I mean, is there a drag net out or what? >> I really don't know. I haven't had an opportunity to talk with the US Marshall Service, but they are looking in the immediate area and they do have a list of family and friends of the inmates. In terms of the uh the inmates sentences, the time they were serving here, the level of security here being a medium security prison, was did was this something that you would expect of this type of inmate? >> Uh no, not at this facility. Terminal Island is a medium to minimum security facility and uh uh the uh rationale for the Marshall Service uh designating them as dangerous is due to the nature of their escape. This is highly unusual for them to uh uh perform such an act. >> A couple of them had less than a year left on their sentences. >> That's correct. One inmate had 15 more days to serve and another had five more months to serve. >> Any idea why they made a break for it with such >> Absolutely not. Uh I guess once we catch them, you can ask them that question. >> What will they face after you get them back? >> Uh I don't know at this point. Of course, there are uh the FBI and US Marshall Service in their investigation. And there may be a number of charges arising out of the escape aside from the escape charge itself. Uh destruction of government property and uh uh a stolen vehicle involved. >> Why did they designate them as dangerous? Seeing as how the crimes except for the one was serving a rape not serious crimes. Why would they be >> This would be the Terminal Island prison break story. On the morning after, the gate still showed damage inflicted when the four inmates crashed through it in the second break from Terminal and Rack.