Murder Suspects Attack Guard, Escape Prison

The search is on in Alabama after two men charged with murder and another charged with armed robbery escaped their shared prison cell. Prior to the escape, one of the three began shouting in the cell, saying a cellmate was ill, the Choctaw County sheriff says. A guard checked up on them to find that one was throwing up, CNN reports. He opened the cell door, and the men attacked him, grabbing his keys and cell phone, the sheriff says. The guard was hospitalized and released after allegedly being choked.

Now, authorities are looking for Demarcus Woodard, 23, Gemayel Culbert, 32, and Justin Terrell Gordon, 23, the Choctaw Sun-Advocate reports. "I've got three bad inmates, two capital murders and one armed robber, who are on foot," the sheriff tells AL.com. Dogs followed a trail to a highway near the prison, where officials think the men may have been picked up. (More prison stories.)