Shocking moment murder suspect escapes from Oregon courthouse after security officers unshackled him in courtroom, while leaving easy escape route wide open

Shocking surveillance footage shows the moment a murder suspect simply ran out of an Oregon courthouse after sheriff’s deputies unshackled him. Ed Villalobos (pictured right), 28, was scheduled to stand trial on February 27 for allegedly stabbing his mother’s partner before knifing an unrelated man just two hours later and leading police on a pursuit that lasted hours back in 2021.

But when a sheriff’s deputy unshackled both his wrist and ankle restraints, as required under Oregon’s woke laws, he stood up, pushed a chair in and made a run for it, through the hall and past the Staff Only doors. He did so after deputies left a clear and obvious route of escape. Police were only able to once again catch up with him after a two-hour long manhunt when someone reported that a man was trying to break into an apartment. Villalobos (pictured) is now back in custody, and will face additional charges for his attempt to flee.

Security footage from the Washington County Courthouse shows two sheriff’s deputies — apparently a man and a woman — leading Villalobos down a hallway to the first-floor courtroom where his hearing was scheduled. Once inside, the male deputy pats him down and removes his wrist shackles, after which Villalobos takes a seat so the deputy could remove his ankle restraints as well. ‘When it comes to removing the restraints, that’s what Oregon law requires us to do,’ the Washington County Sheriff’s Department later said in a statement.

But once the sheriff’s deputy is done, Villalobos simply stands up, pushes in a chair behind the table where he and his lawyers would have sat for the trial and starts sprinting out the courtroom. He makes his way through the door to the courtroom as the male sheriff’s deputy follows just few feet behind him, with the female officer in tow. As he makes his way into the hallway, Villalobos increases the distance between him and the officers, who are still following him on foot, and seems to jump in front of a woman about to open the door to the outside.

Villalobos nearly tackles a man as he tries to get to the Staff Only door, which he slams behind him. It is unclear when the sheriff’s deputies lost track of him, but what followed was a two-hour manhunt through the town of Hillsboro, where police blocked off streets and even used a drone to track down Villalobos’ location. After nearly two hours, KATU reports, someone alerted deputies that there was someone trying to get into an apartment in the 300 block of Southeast Fourth Avenue.

The owner said nobody was supposed to be inside, but when deputies searched the home they found Villalobos hiding in a closet underneath a blanket. He was then taken back into custody, sheriff’s officials say, and a grand jury indicted him on charges related to his escape. Villalobos’ trial has now also been postponed to a later date. He is accused of stabbing Artemio Guzman-Olvera, 33, whom his mother was seeing, in April 2021 and fleeing the scene in a car.

About two hours later, the Oregonian reports, Clackamas County sheriff’s deputies working for the city were called to an assault at an apartment complex, where they say Villalobos stabbed Saul Antonio Ramirez Aguierre, 26. Aguierre was rushed to the hospital in critical condition in the aftermath, but ultimately survived.

Just about half an hour after the second stabbing, a police officer spotted Villalobos’ car and a police chase ensued.

At one point, the sheriff’s department said, he stopped, got out of the car and ran. But with the help of multiple law enforcement agencies, Villalobos was arrested and jailed.