By Stephanie Taylor
The Tuscaloosa News
TUSCALOOSA COUNTY, Ala. — Two of the three inmates who escaped through a vent shaft at the Tuscaloosa County Jail have been recaptured.
Seth Schuyler Williams and Cameron Keith Newell were taken into custody in Fultondale Saturday night, said Sheriff Ron Abernathy. The hunt for Richard Brandon Lancaster was still underway as of 9 p.m.
A law enforcement alert was sent to people in all of Tuscaloosa County and nearby areas around 8:30 p.m.
Abernathy said the men climbed through a vent shaft in the roof of the jail. He was expected to provide more information later Saturday night.
All three of the inmates have records that include violent crimes.
Lancaster, 38, served time in prison for multiple charges filed in 2000. Police charged him with attempted murder, saying he fired toward a police officer, but he said he had only fired into the air without realizing officers were in the area. He later pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment.
He has served time for prior drug and first-degree burglary charges, and is currently being held on charges of possessing meth and Xanax, attempting to elude police, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest and a fugitive warrant.
Williams, 27, has been convicted of robbery, vehicle break-in, drug and - most recently - federal gun charges. He was being held on first-degree burglary, second-degree robbery, promoting prison contraband, felon in possession of a firearm and drug distribution charges.
Newell, 19, was arrested in January after a man said he and two other men robbed him at gunpoint in his home. He was charged with second-degree assault last year after a man said Newell tried to steal his car. The man said Newell continued driving, dragging him from the moving vehicle and almost running into a support piling in a parking deck.
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©2020 The Tuscaloosa News, Ala.