Thursday, Aug. 12, 1999 | 11:44 a.m.
A prisoner escaped from the North Las Vegas Detention Center Wednesday night, firing a gun at two officers before he fled with a friend.
Prisoner Timothy Blackburn, 25, was with Puthea Lim, 24, in the center's visitation area around 11:30 p.m. when he somehow popped out the partition security glass and ran out the front door of the facility, North Las Vegas Police spokesman Lt. Chris Larotonda said.
It is unclear whether there were armed guards in the visiting area at the time.
While running through the parking lot, Blackburn or Lim opened fire on two warrant officers who happened to be walking there, Larotonda said. The bullets hit a pickup but no officers, he said.
Blackburn and Lim jumped into a silver or gray Isuzu pickup and sped away. The pickup was later found abandoned in a North Las Vegas neighborhood, Larotonda said.
Blackburn is described as a 25-year-old Asian man who stands 6-foot-3-inches tall and weighs 215 pounds. Blackburn had been charged with bank robbery in connection with thefts from automated teller machines, Larotonda said. He is considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Blackburn or Lim can call the North Las Vegas Police Department at 633-9111 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.
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