Escaped attempted murder suspect captured by police in Hollywood

Authorities at the West Valley Detention Center in San Bernardino County are being tight-lipped about how a 29-year-old attempted murder suspect was able to escape custody Sunday and avoid capture for more than 24 hours.

Deshaun Stamps, a resident of Riverside who had been in custody since January 2023, escaped from the Rancho Cucamonga facility during an outdoor recreation period at around 12:20 p.m., the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

“He had been out there on recreation time and that’s when we first discovered that he was missing,” SBSD Spokesperson Mara Rodriguez told KTLA’s Shelby Nelson.

The 29-year-old was located and arrested today near Formosa and Hawthorn avenues in Hollywood by officers with the Los Angeles Department just before 6 p.m., according to a SBSD news release.

It is unclear how Stamps was able to make the nearly 52 mile trip from the West Valley Detention Center to where he was taken into custody in Hollywood.

Officials have provided few details about how Stamps made his escape, whether he simply walked away or climbed one of the many fences topped with barbed wire. Authorities say those questions are part of their investigation and, at least right now, they’re not saying if they have the answers.

“All of our inmates are monitored while they’re on recreation time,” Rodriguez said. “As far as this particular situation and who was monitoring, how it was being monitored, all of that will be part of the internal investigation.”

Authorities started their search yesterday by helicopter and on the ground using K-9’s.

“They’ll probably find him eventually, but it makes me feel uneasy,” an Upland resident identified only as Carol told KTLA.

News of the attempted murder suspect’s escape had put many nearby residents on edge.

“I feel like the care could have been a little bit better,” Rancho Cucamonga resident Gaby Soza said. “They could have watched him more, so it kind of scares me that more people could get out.”

Just last week at the facility, another inmate, Christopher Lommie Jackson, who has been in custody since 2019 on several violent charges, including an alleged murder, attempted to stab another inmate and a SBSD deputy guard with a jail-made shiv in an attack that was captured on surveillance cameras.

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As for Stamps, court records show he was charged in November 2022 with attempted murder, assault with a firearm on a peace officer, vandalism and for attempting to remove an officer’s gun. The 29-year-old also has several prior felony convictions.

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