Tuesday saw the charging of a former Mississippi jailer in relation to the escape of a prisoner who, last week, got into a 15-hour standoff with Chicago police a few blocks away from the Democratic National Convention. Ronnie Hunt, 32, a deputy jailer of the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department, is charged with helping Joshua Zimmerman, a wanted man with a severe criminal past, escape.
Spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Bailey Martin said on Tuesday that Hunt is currently charged and could face more charges for allegedly giving Zimmerman items that let him flee. According to WREG-TV, a CBS station, the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department stated that Hunt has subsequently lost his position as a deputy jailer. Chicago police SWAT officers patrol are seen during a standoff with escaped prisoner Joshua Zimmerman on August 21, 2024, in Chicago. A former Mississippi jailer was charged on Tuesday in connection with Zimmerman’s escape.
In spite of his intense security, Zimmerman escaped from the police and made his way to Chicago. There, he was caught after a heated confrontation at a seafood restaurant close to the United Center last week during the Democratic National Convention. The fact that Zimmerman was apprehended in street clothing rather than a jail uniform—a revelation that has sparked concerns about the degree of planning involved in his escape—was confirmed by the U.S. Marshals Service, who oversaw the manhunt.
Further stoking rumors about whether or not Zimmerman had help from within the jail is surveillance footage from the courthouse, which shows him without handcuffs and wearing khaki pants and a white shirt. The DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department’s security procedures are currently under closer examination as a result of Zimmerman’s escape. Any allegations that Zimmerman had inside assistance or access to more clothing have been flatly refuted by Sheriff Thomas E. Tuggle II.
“It is untrue that he received assistance. It is untrue to say that he had an extra set of clothes. A professional criminal, that is this. Tuggle told WREG-TV following Zimmerman’s escape that “he knew what he was doing.” In September 2023, Keyanna Mercer was shot and killed at a motel in Houston, allegedly by Zimmerman. The two allegedly got into a violent argument that resulted in the motel ejecting them. Mercer died from a gunshot wound to the head when his body was later found.
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