Two men with arrests for violent crimes have escaped from a large psychiatric hospital in Washington state, possibly through a loose window.
Lakewood, Washington, police described both Anthony Garver, 28, and Mark Alexander Adams, 58, as “dangerous.”
“They got a considerable head start,” Lakewood police spokesman Chris Lawler told CNN affiliate KIRO-TV in Seattle.
The men had been committed for mental illness treatment to Western State Hospital, described on its website as “one of the largest psychiatric hospitals west of the Mississippi” with more than 800 beds.
Police are urging the public to be on the lookout for both men but not to interact with them — and instead alert authorities immediately if they’re seen.
“CALL 911 if you see these two escapees or have information,” a post on the Lakewood police’s Facebook page said. “DO NOT attempt to contact them!”
Garver and Adams were seen in the hospital’s dining hall around 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to Lakewood police.
They weren’t noticed missing until about 1½ hours later.
“It is suspected they left together on foot and may have obtained transportation,” police said, noting that local cab companies, Amtrak, Greyhound and other transport services have been notified.
The two had been at Western State Hospital since February 2015 but had been on authorities’ radar long before then.
In July 2013, Garver, a fugitive wanted on several outstanding warrants, was charged with murder in the killing of Phillipa S. Evans-Lopez, 20. She had been found the month before tied to a bed using electrical cords and stabbed about two dozen times, according to the Snohomish County, Washington, Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives linked Garver, who sometimes uses the last name Burke, to the woman’s death based on evidence from the scene and surveillance video footage showing the two of them together in the days before her death, the sheriff’s office said.
Garver was later found not competent to stand trial.
Adams also was found not competent to stand trial following a second-degree assault/domestic violence arrest in 2014.