Update: Mahany Park murder suspect who escaped from Roseville hospital spotted in Rocklin

The man charged in connection with the slaying of a 72-year-old Roseville man and the wounding of a California Highway Patrol officer at Mahany Park in April escaped from Sutter Roseville Medical Center early Sunday, sparking a daylong manhunt as law enforcement agencies across the Sacramento region searched for him.

LATEST UPDATE: ABRIL SURRENDERS TO POLICE IN ROCKLIN CREEKBED

Eric James Abril, 35, who had been held by Placer County Sheriff’s officials since April on charges of murder and attempted murder, escaped from the hospital around 3 a.m. after apparently being taken there Thursday from the Auburn jail, where he had been in custody.

Authorities deployed helicopters, drones, armored vehicles and police dogs as they received various reports of Abril sightings from residents in the region.

Just after 1 p.m., authorities were focused on a Rocklin neighborhood more than a mile north of the hospital. A helicopter circled above alerting residents of their search for Abril, who was described as a 6-foot, 175-pound white male with brown hair.

Dozens of officers — including about two dozen officers in tactical gear and two armored police trucks — swarmed the 4500 block of Greenbrae Road near Secret Ravine, a creek that runs parallel to Interstate 80 and travels down past Sutter Roseville’s sprawling property.

Residents had called authorities after seeing a man jumping backyard fences as police converged on the area. More law enforcement officials on off-road motorcycles were seen searching in the dried grass running behind houses where Abril was spotted earlier, aiding by drones, K-9 officers and various tactical equipment.

By 1:30 p.m., deputies and allied law enforcement officers, including the California Highway Patrol, were going house to house in the hopes of locating the murder suspect.

“I was cleaning the house, then I heard the helicopter,” said Anastasia Gonzalez, who lives on Greenbrae Road near where a Folsom police SWAT team was searching for Abril. “It’s scary.”

Gonzalez said the area south of Greenbrae, where the search was focused, is mainly vacant with plenty of dry yellow grass.

Police radio traffic reflected a series of false alarms, hopeful reports of Abril sightings and deputies searching empty houses, small caves and greenbelt areas as the manhunt dragged into the afternoon.

Sheriff’s officials gave no details on how Abril escaped or why he was at the hospital, but warned the public to “exercise extreme caution” amid the manhunt. They urged anyone who sees anything suspicious to call their tipline at 916-409-1257 or submit tips to https://bit.ly/pcso-abril-manhunt-tips.

“We ask the immediate public to exercise extreme caution and to call 911 immediately if Abril is seen,” sheriff’s officials said in their initial bulletin about the manhunt.

Shortly after 9:20 a.m., the sheriff’s office updated its description: “Throughout our investigation, we have learned Abril was not wearing a shirt and was not shackled at the waist. He is believed to be wearing orange jail pants.”

Just after noon, officials said Abril had been spotted on a security camera walking near a cul de sac in Rocklin, and expanded their search area to include that area.

Abril spotted on home surveillance footage

At about 12:20 p.m. sheriff’s officials released what appeared to be a residential surveillance camera photo of Abril walking shirtless and wearing orange pants or orange shorts. The photo included a tattoo on his left shoulder of what officials said appeared to be ocean waves and bamboo.

“We have developed new information revealing Abril was last seen on video surveillance walking near Rainier Ct in Rocklin at 3:39 a.m., and then (nearby) a few minutes later on Saddletree Ln,” sheriff’s officials said in a tweet. “We have expanded our search area to include parts of Rocklin, as reflected in our updated map.”

Police also asked residents to check their security cameras for any signs of Abril.

Law enforcement scanner traffic indicated that Abril was seen going out the doors of Sutter Roseville Hospital on the north side and headed across a field toward Highway 65 at about 3:20 a.m. wearing orange jail garb and shackles.

“When was the last time he was seen moving?” a deputy asked just before 4 a.m., according to scanner traffic archived on Broadcastify.com

“I saw him exit the second floor, run down the stairs and exit the building,” another deputy replied. “When I exited the door behind him that’s when I lost contact.”

That occurred at 3:08 a.m., according to scanner traffic, and law enforcement officials began setting up a command post at a nearby Starbucks and calling in all day shift officers to help.

How ‘very dangerous fugitive’ escaped is under investigation

A grim-looking Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo gave a brief update at 10 a.m., vowing to investigate how Abril managed to escape from custody at the hospital, where he was supposed to be under 24-hour guard, but declined to provide details.

Instead, he said officials were focused on finding the fugitive.

“Clearly, we consider Abril a very dangerous fugitive,” Woo said. “We have over 200 law enforcement officials on scene right now helping us with this search.

“We will not stop until Abril is back in custody.”

Placer sheriff’s Lt. Ty Conners said during the media briefing that Abril would have had a deputy assigned to guard him at all times since he was taken to the hospital Thursday for what officials said was an unknown reason.

But he said an investigation would be conducted to determine if Sheriff’s Office policies and procedures were followed as Abril was being held.

“That’s under investigation right now,” Conners said. “We’ll let you know later on.”

Sutter officials declined to comment Sunday, referring inquiries to law enforcement, but a source with knowledge of the incident who was not authorized to speak said Abril had been taken to the hospital after complaining of seizures in the jail.

Abril’s attorney, Matthew Bockmon, also declined to comment in detail.

“I am stunned,” Bockmon said early Sunday after learning of the escape. “I hope he turns himself back in.”

Authorities set up a gathering area for media at the Roseville Golfland Sunsplash water park, where roads and parking lots were deserted around 8 a.m. Sunday when they are normally bustling with activity, according to Shaniqua Johnson, 50, an assistant manager at Shell gas station on Taylor Road at East Roseville Parkway.

Johnson said that at roughly 6 a.m. a security employee from the hospital came into the station and informed the staff that Abril escaped. Johnson said she had not been notified of any immediate danger, and the owners had not told her to close the location.

About four hours prior, she said she noticed police cars establishing roadblocks and covering bike trail entrances in the area.

“He could come around and take more hostages,” said Wes Butram, 44, a gas station employee. “They need to loosen up on concealed carry permits with mass shooters running around.”

At Sutter Roseville, the parking lot was filled with police cars and any vehicles leaving the parking lot were subjected to having their trunks checked for any signs of Abril.

Sightings reported in Roseville, Rocklin and Granite Bay

Scanner traffic showed authorities responding to a series of calls from citizens reporting possible sightings throughout the Roseville area, and investigating reports of people wearing orange clothing or abandoned orange clothes reported.

Police vehicles, assisted by aircraft from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol, zeroed in on reports of sightings in Roseville, as well as Rocklin to the north and Granite Bay to the east. In each case, police located subjects only to find it wasn’t Abril.

At the Roseville home where Abril’s mother lives, a woman inside opened the front window blinds when a Bee reporter knocked, but did not answer the door.

Not far from that house, Sun City retirement community resident John Endacott said he saw police vehicles outside the mother’s home on Burnt Cedar Way at about 9:45 a.m. and heard commands from police coming out of a public address system.

Endacott said he heard police say they had a warrant and were going to go inside the house.

At some point, officers had Abril’s mother outside the house across the street, Endacott said.

He said he saw three or four Roseville police vehicles in the street in front of the home, along with an armored police truck and a large white police van. At least one officer was wearing tactical protective gear.

Police left the home and drove away about 30 minutes later.

“We’re all on pins and needles until he gets caught,” Endacott said.

April 6 standoff at park left 1 dead, 2 wounded

Abril was in custody following an April 6 shootout at Mahany Park that left James MacEagan dead and his wife, Patricia, wounded. A CHP officer also was shot during the standoff, which authorities say occurred after Abril took the couple hostage as law enforcement officers attempted to take Abril into custody on an earlier warrant.

A source has told The Sacramento Bee that Abril exchanged gunfire with Roseville police several times and that he used Patricia MacEagan as a shield while he threatened to kill her and eventually shot her in the arm.

Her husband was shot and killed at the scene.

The standoff sparked a massive law enforcement response of more than 100 officers drones and armored vehicles until Abril, who was wearing a body armor vest and had been sought in connection with an earlier freeway shooting, surrendered.

Abril pleaded not guilty to the charges, which could lead to a death penalty prosecution.

Abril has four previous criminal convictions in Santa Clara County, including 2008 convictions of resisting or preventing an officer from performing their duties and grand theft; a 2010 second-degree burglary conviction; and a 2013 conviction for carrying a concealed knife, according to court documents.

In addition, he was convicted in 2014 in San Luis Obispo County for second-degree burglary and preventing or dissuading a witness or victim from testifying.

Abril was wounded during the standoff and hospitalized until the following evening, when he was booked at the Placer County Jail.

The Bee’s Camryn Dadey and Sara Nevis contributed to this story.