One escaped inmate captured, one at large after pursuit, shooting

One of two inmates from Santa Clara county who escaped from a Palo Alto courthouse earlier this month was captured by authorities Tuesday evening after an officer-involved shooting in Stockton in San Joaquin County, California Highway Patrol officials said.

CHP officials have taken 47-year-old Travel McClough into custody and are asking the public to be on the lookout for 46-year-old John Bivins.

At 5:16 p.m., CHP officers in Stockton tried to pull over a vehicle on northbound Interstate Highway 5, just south of West Eight Mile Road. A pursuit ensued onto southbound Trinity Parkway, where the driver, McClough, exited and ran into a Walmart and was later detained.

The passenger, Bivins, entered the driver’s seat of the vehicle and fled south on Trinity Parkway. Just south of McAuliffe Road, Bivins was involved in an officer-involved shooting with a CHP officer. Bivins then fled north on Trinity Parkway and remains at large, CHP officials said.

Bivins was last seen in the vehicle, a green 1999 Ford Explorer with license plate no. 7TTY505. He is described as a black man, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 180 pounds with brown eyes and black hair.

CHP officials have released images of Bivins. Anyone with information about him or the vehicle is asked to call 911 immediately.

According to Santa Clara County sheriff’s officials, on Nov. 6 at 9:30 a.m., Bivins and McClough escaped from a courthouse in Palo Alto where they were headed for a court appearance. As deputies escorted them inside, Bivins and McClough somehow caused a distraction and then bolted for the exit and escaped into an awaiting vehicle outside the courthouse.

Both men were being housed at Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas. They were arrested in February on suspicion of stealing $64,400 worth of cellphones and other merchandise from a Verizon store in Sunnyvale.