More than thirty teenagers aged between 14 and 19 have escaped from a youth detention center in Nashville Tennessee, reports CBS News . The incident, which happened late on Monday night during a shift change period, has left officials red-faced.
According to Yahoo News , while many of the escaped teenagers were caught, at least 17 individuals are still on the loose as of early Tuesday morning. The incident happened at the Woodland Hills Youth Detention Center. Officials at the detention center say that the youngsters managed to escape the facility by crawling under a fence. Reports say that the teenagers had managed to find a weak spot in the fencing that surrounded a yard, and simply crawled underneath it in order to make their escape.
It is unclear how they were able to do so without getting busted. Initial reports said that there were 32 inmates that had escaped in all, and that 15 of them were apprehended immediately. An intense search operation has been launched in the area as officials look for the 17 other teenagers, still on the loose.
Officials add that there were 78 inmates at the detention center at the time of the escape. This means nearly half of the detainees had managed to escape in the daring night raid. According to Tennessee Department of Children’s Services spokesman Rob Johnson, the teenagers kept at the detention center have all committed at least three felonies.
It is unclear if the decision to escape the detention center was pre planned. It could be likely that the weak spot was under the radar of the detainees and they chose the late night shift change for their escape. Investigations are already on. The priority, however, is to catch and arrest the teenagers who have managed to elude law enforcement officials so far.
Meanwhile, officials from the areas have confirmed that there have been no reports of any criminal activity in the region since the escape of the teenagers.
[Image Via CBS News ]
