Dramatic prison break

last updated 8 January 2015

Villefranche-sur-Saône, France

Two men armed with machine guns blasted two inmates out of a prison in southern France last week. With guns blazing, the men scaled the prison’s perimeter wall and then lowered a ladder down to inmates Dragan Mikic and Pascal Gendry, who were serving time for armed robbery. All four fled in a van. The tower guard did not shoot; officials said later that he was “totally shocked” at the attack and froze. Inside the prison yard, guards did exchange fire with the attackers, and one guard was wounded. Officials said the inmates apparently used a smuggled mobile phone to alert their accomplices that they’d be in the yard, since there is no fixed schedule for prisoners’ exercise.