Police in Antigua and Dominica are on the lookout for a Dominican man who is said to have escaped the prison facility in Antigua while working on the institution’s farm at Diamonds Estate Antigua.
According to the Antigua Observer Newspaper, Shanell Thomas, 34, was is serving time for a number of serious offences – including kidnap, attempted robbery, and theft – and is scheduled for release in November 2026 is now on the run and may well be on his way to his home country Dominica.
Information from Her Majestys Prison in Antigua reports that Thomas who is of medium build and weighs approximately 190 lbs, 5 feet 7 inches tall, and is fair in complexion escaped around 12 noon on February 8, 2022.
The authorities are asking anyone with information as to the whereabouts of the prison escapee or who may have seen him is asked to contact the nearest police station or the prison immediately.
Meantime, Antigua police are reporting that around 1:30 am on Wednesday 9th February, the police Special Services Unit-SSU were on mobile patrol in New Winthropes when they spotted escaped prisoner Shanell Thomas driving a vehicle.
According to them (Antigua Police) they tried to apprehend him; however, he alighted from the vehicle with “what appeared to be a firearm and attempted to engage the police.”
“The police opened fire and he manage to escape in some nearby bushes. No one was reportedly injured. The vehicle he was driving was seized and taken to Police Headquarters,” the police states.
The search for him (escaped prisoner Shanell Thomas continues) and, the police are making an appeal for him to surrender himself at any police station immediately.
The police are also cautioning the public against engaging him if seen, as he is “considered to be armed and dangerous.”
Police in Dominica have also been alerted of this latest development and are also on the “lookout” for Thomas should he land on the Nature Isle.