Police: escaped inmate killed himself in Courier-Journal parking lot - wave3.com-Louisville News, Weather & Sports

By Shayla Reaves - bio | email
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Louisville Metro Police are looking for answers after a foot chase with federal agents ends with a man dead. The chase ended with a shooting at a parking lot at Sixth and Broadway under a SUV parked about two rows away from the street.

"I see the U.S. Marshals on TV, but God, this is my first time seeing them live like this," said Jackie Burks, who saw the scene unfold.

A block of Broadway came to a standstill after a mistake at Louisville Metro Corrections landed a Louisville inmate on the streets.

"We believe he was released late yesterday (Thursday) and we didn't discover it until probably during our midnight shift," said Pam Windsor, spokesperson for Louisville Metro Corrections.

The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force sprung into action after a call from Metro Corrections. Sources tell WAVE 3 investigators tracked the man to the White Castle restaurant at Sixth and Broadway early Friday.

"I saw a bunch of U.S. Marshals saying halt stop," Burks said. "He didn't stop. He kept running."

"They (the U.S. Marshals) were just like in a hurry, running and they couldn't really stop the traffic because they didn't know what to do because the traffic was keep trying to move," said Melissa Woods, another person who witnessed the chase.

The foot chase landed a block away at the Courier-Journal parking lot on Sixth and Broadway. That's where the U.S. Marshals converged.

"(A) TARC bus was right here and one of the U.S. Marshals got on the bus, see if the suspect was on the bus, which he wasn't," said Burks. "Then he came up to the car and he said ‘Ma'am, which way did he go?' I said, ‘Sir, he went that way over there on the lot.'"

According to witnesses, authorities searched under vehicles and found the man.

"The officer said, ‘come out, come out. Put your hands down, put your gun down,' He refused. The next we heard was a couple of shots," Burks said. "He was under that truck, under that vehicle, took his own life."

The Jefferson County Coroners' Office has identified the man as 18-year-old Jeremy Burton. In a press release, Windsor said Burton was released sometime on the afternoon of March 5 after he switched armbands with another inmate. He had been arrested on March 4 on charges of receiving stolen property, failure to maintain required insurance and reckless driving.  

Friday night, Windsor says the jail's automated fingerprint machine was down. Use of the machine is part of a series of checkpoints inmates are required to pass through before being released. Windsor says all of the policies and procedures to release inmates are now under investigation.