Prison Escapee Back Behind Bars

WEBSTER COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – An escaped inmate from the George County Correctional Facility in Lucedale had been on the run since Saturday.

It’s all thanks to good coordination between several law enforcement agencies and one Webster County resident exercising his 2nd Amendment right.

All of this happened in the course of an hour, and the result was as good as anyone could want, a quick arrest and no fatalities.

It seemed like any other Wednesday morning for the Betts family, but a strange visitor changed that.

“We heard a knock on the door. It was kind of a light knock, and Marie said someone’s at the door,” said Waymon Betts.

The man is 37-year-old Eugene Robinson, who escaped from George County Correctional Facility this past Saturday.

Betts didn’t know that at the time, but said something was off.

“I felt uneasy about him,” said Betts. “He said ‘I’ve been walking from Calhoun City, and I’m going to Eupora.’ He says ‘My hands are real cold.'”

Betts offered to take him into town.

“I said where do you need to go? He said ‘Well, I need to go back to get my clothes. I said I think I’m going to take you to the sheriff’s department or to the police station. I said this doesn’t sound right,” said Betts.

At that point, Robinson had enough of Betts’ suspicion.

“That’s when I seen him pull the knife out,” explained Betts. “He told me, he said ‘You’re going to take me where I want to go.”

Betts saw an oncoming truck and reacted quickly.

“I swerved into the other lane, got on my brakes, and I got the window rolled down about that far. I was hollering at the other guy in the truck, telling him to call the law,” exclaimed Betts.

Robinson made Betts get out of the truck, but Betts didn’t go without a fight.

In Betts’s 72 years on this Earth, he’s become everything from an Eagle Scout to a Special Olympics coach and more recently a concealed carrier.

“I’ve got a little .480 pistol. I slid it into my pocket,” said Betts.

“He fired six times, hitting the suspect one time in the back,” said Webster County Sheriff, Tim Mitchell.

From there, Robinson went down Hwy. 15 towards Ackerman but turned around and headed towards Mathiston, where Mathiston PD and Choctaw and Webster County deputies were waiting.

“We had our dispatcher calling Choctaw, and we were talking to Mathiston to coordinate,” said Mitchell. “When he turned around, we just swarmed in like a bunch of bees. Just great coordination work from everybody.”

For Betts, he’s happy to be alive.

“I’m just glad the Lord saw that I see another day,” said Betts.

Robinson was sent to OCH Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released for a minor injury.

He’s been transported to Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County.

He’s been charged for escape and armed carjacking.

Other charges are pending.