SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — An inmate was arrested Monday in the College Area after trying to escape out a third-floor window of a hospital.
San Diego Police said the inmate, identified as Gabriel Cardenas, was brought to Alvarado Hospital for treatment by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Just after midnight, while in a third-floor room, he managed to remove his leg restraint, open a window, and jump out onto a portion of the roof below the room, SDPD said.
It's unclear how he was able to evade detection during this time.
San Diego officers were called to assist CDCR officers and a SWAT team to search the area. After about 15 minutes, Cardenas was found hiding on the roof of the hospital and arrested.
During the arrest, a CDCR officer accidentally discharged at least two rounds from his AR-15 rifle. ABC 10News' Breaking News Tracker heard the rounds being fired and caught what appeared to be an officer almost falling from the hospital roof.
SDPD and CDCR said no one was hurt.
According to police, Cardenas is serving a sentence of life without parole at R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility for the 2014 first-degree murder, kidnapping, and carjacking of a Cathedral City resident.
