Escaped detainee killed in house fire after police standoff

LEAKE CO., Miss. (WLBT/Gray News) - A man who escaped from a detention center Sunday is dead following a standoff with authorities in Mississippi.

Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones confirmed the discovery in a Tweet, saying “The remains recovered in the burned structure in Carthage, MS this morning have been identified as one of the escapees, Dylan Arrington.”

Officials say 22-year-old Arrington had barricaded himself in the structure.

Leake County Sheriff Randy Atkinson says the standoff began around 7:13 a.m. and the fire came a couple of hours later, fully engulfing the home.

He said recovery efforts would get underway once the fire burns out.

Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones, who was also on the scene, reported an unidentified deceased person was found in the burned residence.

“The fire was pretty big, and it caused a lot of damage,” Jones said. “As you can see as well, we believe that there was someone inside the residence at the time the fire started. We can also confirm that at the time the fire started, there was an exchange of gunfire.”

Officials say it is still unclear what caused the blaze.

“Basically, one of the times he was shooting from the residence, when he shot, the window,” Atkinson said. “And it started smoking from that particular part of the house, and it just came up, I guess, spreading throughout the residence.”

Arrington was one of four detainees that escaped the Raymond Detention Center in Mississippi on Sunday. Officials say the detainees were being held in the jail’s B-Pod and were able to escape after breaching a hole in a cell wall.

After escaping, Arrington was accused of stealing a motorcycle, wrecking that motorcycle and killing a pastor who pulled over along the side of the road to help him in south Jackson.

Arrington was accused of fleeing the scene in the victim’s red pickup truck. So far, the pastor’s truck has not been recovered.

“We have combed this area,” Atkinson said. “We’ve had drones... choppers have been in the area, and we have not seen this vehicle in the area, and we have not seen that vehicle anywhere.

A manhunt began Tuesday night after Arrington was spotted in Leake County.

Atkinson said the search continued throughout the night and he and an investigator returned to the Conway Road home this morning, where they spoke to the owner.

The owner was returning home at the time, the sheriff said. “That’s when he went inside of the residence and came back out and said he was inside the residence and that’s when it all got started.”

One Leake County investigator, Jerry Horn, was shot. He was taken to the hospital and later airlifted to a medical facility in Jackson.

The sheriff’s department shared a Facebook post from Horn’s family updating the public on Horn’s condition.

“He is doing good. He will stay overnight for observation and then most likely be in a boot for a while,” wrote Kristye Rhinewalt Horn. “We can handle that!!! Again - your prayers were definitely felt.”

As for the homeowner, authorities are still determining whether he had ties to the suspect.

Several agencies aided in the search and standoff, including the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department and the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department.

The Mississippi State Fire Marshal also was on the scene Wednesday afternoon looking through the remains of the home.

Officials say the three other detainees are still on the run. The detainees are Casey Grayson, Corey Harrison and Jerry Raynes.

Jones warned that two of the men have ties to the tri-county area.

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