Police say escapee shot himself after shooting wife and daughters

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1999 | 10:01 a.m.

A jail escapee who shot his wife and young daughters to death as police closed in apparently was not killed by police as originally thought.

Sheriff Jerry Keller said Timothy Lee Blackburn shot himself to death as police entered an apartment where he had just shot his daughters and his wife early Sunday.

Police initially said they shot the 25-year-old Blackburn during a gunbattle while entering the apartment.

Keller also said Monday that the SWAT team entered the apartment after hearing a gunshot, which they thought came from the apartment. He said it actually was an accidental discharge from another officer.

Keller said as officers entered the apartment they saw Blackburn shooting his wife. They found his daughters, ages 4 and 5, shot to death in a bathtub.

The victims were identified as Blackburn's daughters, Tiana, 5, Tiara, 4, and his wife, Puthea Lea, 24.

Blackburn escaped from the North Las Vegas jail Aug. 11 with the help of his wife, who used a drill to dislodge thick glass separating visitors from inmates in the visiting area.

He traded shots with officers as they fled, and police have been looking for him since.

Blackburn was being held in connection with the Dec. 21 robbery of $1.1 million from an ATM repository at a Bank of America vault in Las Vegas.