HOUSTON—Residents of Centerville had become more vigilant over the past three weeks as authorities searched for a murderer who had killed on behalf of Mexican drug cartels and who stabbed and injured the driver of a prison transport bus last month when he escaped custody not far from their small Texas town.
The search for Gonzalo Lopez, 46, ended late Thursday in a shootout about 220 miles (350 kilometers) away. He led officers on a brief chase in a stolen truck before he was gunned down.
Authorities believe while Lopez roamed free, he killed a man and his four grandsons, then stole an AR-15-style rifle and a pistol from their ranch near Centerville, as well as the truck he drove to Atascosa County, south of San Antonio, where he was fatally shot by officers….