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‘That Guy Won’t Be Killing Anyone Else’: Escapee Suspected Of Pastor’s Murder Dead In Fiery Blaze After Standoff

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A prison escapee suspected of murdering a Mississippi pastor died following a confrontation with police on April 26, which left him barricaded in a home he reportedly set on fire.

A body pulled from a burned out home in Carthage was confirmed to be that of Dylan Arrington, 22, a prison escapee authorities believe killed Pastor Anthony Watts on April 24. Watts had pulled over to assist the suspect after seeing him wreck his motorcycle on Interstate 55 when he was shot multiple times, carjacked and left to die on the side of the road. Arrington fit the description of the suspect involved in Watts’ death and had recently escaped from prison along with three other inmates at the Raymond Detention Center near Jackson.

After Watts’ death, law enforcement officials had been combing the area with drones and helicopters searching for Arrington, who was believed to be armed and dangerous. After spotting a man believed to be Arrington, police surrounded a home in Carthage where the suspect exchanged gunfire with police, striking deputy Jerry Horn in the leg, WAPT reported. (RELATED: Woman Allegedly Armed With Stolen Gun Plunges From 7-Floor Miami Building Amid Police Standoff)

During the shootout with police, a fire broke out inside the home, engulfing it in flames.

“While the house was engulfed in flames, we do believe he did retreat to another side of the residence and he did begin firing out a window on the other side of the residence, and that’s when law enforcement agencies returned fire. We believe that the individual was possibly struck, but of course, we don’t have that information right now,” Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones told WAPT. “Whether he died by gunfire or whether he died as a result of the fire, that is to be determined.”

“I’ve seen a lot of things, but I’ve never seen a situation where a structure was engulfed in flames and an individual inside of the structure started firing shots at law enforcement on the exterior,” Jones continued. “This individual had violence on his mind. I believe he did not intend to leave here alive today.”

“He inflicted that kind of terror after escaping from jail, killing people and shooting law enforcement. But that guy won’t be killing anyone else,” Leake County Sheriff Randy Atkinson told The Associated Press.