"Escape Artist" Causes Lockdown At KSU
Updated 3/3/2009 11:49:28 PM
Posted By: Kevin Rowson
KENNESAW, Ga. -- Kennesaw State University was in lockdown mode for three hours Tuesday while police looked for an escaped prisoner. They never found the prisoner, but the campus was eventually cleared. Classes were cancelled after 4:30pm.
Thirty-four year old Christopher Daniel Gay got out of handcuffs in a sheriff patrol car from Coffee County, Tennessee. A Coffee County Sheriff deputy picked Gay up from the Orange County, Florida jail and was transporting him to Tennessee. The deputy stopped for something to eat at a Waffle House off of Chastain Road near I-75.
Gay ran from the patrol car onto the Kennesaw State University campus at around 2:30pm. Campus officials were notified and quickly sent out e-mails and text messages to students. Although students milled around the campus during the lockdown, a warning was blaring from speakers around the campus. The alert warned "Violent crime alert. Close and lock all windows and doors and do not attempt to enter or exit any buildings."
Christopher Gay is a notorious thief, known for stealing trucks. Law enforcement agencies nicknamed him "Little Houdini." He's only 5-feet, 6-inches tall and this isn't the first time he's escaped from custody.
In 2005 he broke out of a Nashville, Tennessee jail to visit his sick father. In 2007 he escaped from a prison van while shackled at the waist, hands and feet. During a search of a nearby wooded area police found the chains.
Gay also allegedly stole country singer Crystal Gayle's tour bus in Nashville in 2007. He drove it to Florida's Lakeland Speedway where he was arrested.
On Tuesday, Gay fled the Coffee County patrol car and ran across the street to the KSU campus. Katie Kennedy is on KSU'S softball team. The team was practicing when Gay escaped. "A couple of girls on our team saw the guy running from Waffle House and they found out that he had escaped, one of the security guards told us," she said.
Kylie Alliston, a sophomore, stopped for a bite to eat at the Waffle House during the search. "I just showed up and there were cop cars out here and news choppers going on it was kind of strange just to go to Waffle House," she said. The Coffee County patrol car was still sitting in the parking lot. On the front passenger seat of the marked unit were the extradition papers for Gay.
Kennesaw State University spokesperson Frances Harrison said in a statement "The prisoner ran for the east deck area of the campus. Police dogs tracked him through the parking deck and through the woods to KSU'S Science building.
After a thorough search, the campus announced an "All clear." Classes were cancelled for the rest of the day and resume normally Wednesday morning.
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