HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WTVD) – A man convicted of shooting a one-year-old child while he was playing with his new toy on Christmas Day 2015 escaped prison on Tuesday.

Ramone Alston, 30, was scheduled to be treated at UNC Hospital’s Hillsborough Campus at 7 a.m. The sheriff’s office said Alston managed to free himself from leg shackles while in a North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (DAC) van in the clinic’s parking lot.

“As they (the officers) drove to the back entrance of the hospital and removed Mr. Alston from the vehicle, he broke away from the officers in the parking lot and ran into the woods,” said Keith Acree, communications director for the DAC.

DAC announced Tuesday afternoon that a $25,000 reward was being offered for information leading to Alston’s recapture.

Two police officers were responsible for removing Alston from the vehicle and transporting him to the hospital for treatment. Alston had come from the Bertie County Jail to undergo a procedure.

Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said the two officers pursued Alston as he ran away, but were unable to keep up with him.

ABC11 asked why Alston was driven more than two hours for his treatment, and investigators responded that UNC contracts with the Department of Adult Correction for the care.

Alston was wearing a gray T-shirt, brown pants and New Balance sneakers when he ran from the van. He was last seen with his hands cuffed in front of his body.

“Until we learn otherwise, the most obvious identifying feature right now is someone walking around with a belly chain and handcuffs with a black box,” said Alecia Stemper, communications manager for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. “If you see him, call 911 immediately. Do not approach.”

Alston is said to have friends and relatives in the area. When asked if he believed Alston had help in his escape, Blackwood said: “I suspect that is true, yes, sir.”

The active search involved 114 people representing multiple agencies and covered an area of ​​580 acres, about a mile around UNC Hospital’s Hillsborough campus.

“He’s either within a five-mile radius or somewhere else in the world. We’re searching both places,” Blackwood said.

Search crews said they would thoroughly search residential areas and wooded areas near residential areas to ensure all residents were safe.

“The primary focus and goal tonight is to reassure the public that this is not an active and acute threat to them or their lives,” said Kirby Saunders, director of Orange County Emergency Services.

Authorities are focusing their search on areas near the Waterstone neighborhood and UNC Hospital in Hillsborough. The hospital released a statement saying in part:

“UNC Hospitals’ Hillsborough Campus was placed on lockdown for a short time Tuesday morning after a Department of Corrections inmate escaped from the hospital. The inmate fled the hospital grounds and police immediately began searching for him. UNC Hospitals Police worked with law enforcement to increase security on the Hillsborough Campus. The lockdown was lifted around 8:30 a.m. The safety of our teammates, patients and visitors is our top priority. We are grateful for the quick response from our law enforcement partners.”

Because of the search, the campus of Durham Technical Community College in Orange County was cordoned off.

Nancy Allen thought it was the landscapers who had her dog Skipper in a tizzy on Tuesday morning.

“On Tuesdays, the landscaping company comes and mows the lawn,” Allen said. “So I’m here taking down the (temporary) fence.”

But she quickly realized that it was another group causing trouble in her backyard.

“All of a sudden I was standing right there and the cops came with their guns drawn. We’re not talking handguns here,” Allen recalled Tuesday night. “They asked, ‘Where did he go?’ And I was like, ‘Where did who go?'”

Deputies held their positions along Old Highway 86 in and around Hillsborough throughout the evening.

Allen hopes that the ordeal will end quickly so that Skipper can walk around again without any problems.

“I went out and walked him, and the officer said, ‘Lady, bring your dog back into the house and close all the doors.’ It was a pretty stressful day,” she said.

The search continued throughout the night.

Who is Ramone Alston?

Alston was found guilty of shooting 1-year-old Maleah Williams on Christmas Day 2015. The shooting occurred in Chapel Hill. Maleah’s mother told ABC11 at the time that the children were outside playing with their Christmas toys and she was holding her daughter when someone in the area started firing shots. She ran away when she realized a bullet had struck Maleah.

“We have no special feelings for Mr. Alston, we are just unhappy with the (Department of Public Safety) and its efforts to keep him in custody, or lack thereof. We wish Mr. Alston and his family nothing but peace, blessings and prosperity,” Maleah’s father, Shaquille Williams, said in a statement Tuesday.

Williams added that he was bothered by the fact that he “got out of his shackles in some way.”

Alston and another man, Pierre Je Bron Moore, reached a plea deal in 2019. Alston received a life sentence for the child’s murder and Moore received a sentence of 28 to 34 years in prison.

ABC11 has uncovered that Alston recently sought to have his sentence reduced. Records show Alston filed a motion for equitable relief in October 2023.

The 20-page document goes into the evidence and facts of his case, in which Alston claims the state used misleading evidence in his case. The motion was denied in May because a judge said Alston received a fair and full hearing and the claims in the motion for equitable compensation were without merit.

Other refugees in North Carolina

According to DAC, 33 escaped prisoners are on the run in North Carolina.

The youngest escapee is Alston. The longest-running prisoner is Eddie Leonard. He escaped on March 26, 1962. Leonard was in prison for first-degree burglary.

Of the 33, all but two escaped in the 20th century. Alston and Delfino Juarez are the only DAC prisoners who escaped in the 21st century and have not yet been captured. Juarez escaped on September 30, 2000.

Since many prisoners escaped a long time ago, it is not clear how many of the 33 escapees are still alive, according to the DAC.