NEW ORLEANS — Eleven inmates escaped from a Louisiana jail on Friday, and a manhunt has begun to find them, authorities said. Two of the inmates have already been captured.

During a news conference on Friday, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said officials at the Orleans Justice Center discovered the inmates were missing after a routine head count at about 8:30 a.m. CT.

Casey McGee, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said that Louisiana State Police captured inmate Kendell Myles and an escapee who has yet to be identified.

According to the State Police, Myles was reportedly located in the French Quarter of New Orleans through “intelligence-led techniques.”

Myles was allegedly apprehended as he was running into the parking garage of the Hotel Monteleone.

The jail was placed on full lockdown after the escapes.

According to the sheriff, the inmates who escaped are Myles, Antoine Massey, Lenton VanBuren, Leo Tate, Derrick Groves, Jermain Donald, Corey Boyd, Gary Price, Robert Moody, Decannon Dennis and Keith Lewis.

It is not clear how the inmates escaped. Chief Christopher Goodly with the sheriff’s office Field Operations Bureau said the inmates still at large should be considered armed and dangerous.

Massey was jailed on charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation, and theft of a car.

VanBuren was facing charges of illegal carrying of weapons, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon, obstruction of justice, and introducing contraband into a prison.

Tate was facing charges of simple burglary of a dwelling, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon, and illegal carrying of a weapon.

Groves was jailed on three counts of attempted second-degree murder. He fatally shot two people in a 2018 mass shooting during Mardi Gras in the Lower 9th Ward and was convicted in October 2024.

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