A sense of relief has washed over local residents as Alberto Morales was found at Lake Grapevine and shot and killed, 100 feet from the lake, near midnight, Friday. Many small communities border Lake Grapevine; which has heavily wooded areas with houses, parks, runnning and biking paths all tucked back in the woods that border the lake. Residents of these small communities surrounding Grapevine could not help but wonder what direction was he headed in and how far he could go on foot?
Locals changed their routines immediately by not walking their dogs at night, canceling their nightly running schedules, house lights were kept on outside to protect and deflect danger from local homes and families. As each day passed the fear worsened and anxiety grew in these mid-cities communities wondering where exactly was this escaped felon turned fugitive.
Late Monday, February 11th, at approximately 11:30 pm, Alberto Morales saw a window of opportunity to escape his captors by brutally stabbing Detective Jaime Pardinas, of the Miami-Dade police department, in the neck, chest and back, with the arm of his glasses. His escape caught on tape by a security camera at a Grapevine, Texas Wal*Mart. By Tuesday morning, communities close to Grapevine had schools on lock down and alerts were going out by telephone.
While police received many tips few panned out; yet the night of Morales' escape highway workers reported seeing him running towards Kimball Road. A road which leads to a highly populated area of homes near Lake Grapevine. And, away from the Grapevine Wal*Mart area that police were concentrating their search in.
For four days, Grapevine Police, along with officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department, searched for Alberto Morales. 2 US Marshalls joined this task force on Valentine's day when a door to door search began. Not only was Morales' presumed armed, he was dangerous, desperate and a schizophrenic off of medication.
A home burglary tipped police off, late Friday evening, suspecting that Morales might be behind this home invasion where he stole men's clothing and jewelry. Using infrared technology, a Ft. Worth Police Department helicopter was able to spot someone in the woods, near the home that was burglarized, and 100 yards from the Lake Forest Boat Club. The police were than able to track Morales’ movements which lead them to the deadly encounter at Lake Grapevine.
Now local residents of these small, mid-cities towns can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that an escaped felon, with nothing to lose, has been found and killed.
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