By Associated Press - Monday, January 13, 2020

WESTCLIFFE, Colo. (AP) - Authorities in Colorado searched Monday for two inmates, including one suspected of attempted murder, who escaped from a jail in a small town after overpowering a guard and locking her in a cell.

Jerry Williams, 39, of La Junta, who is suspected of attempted murder and other crimes, and Bryan Webb, 30, of Walsenburg, who was being held on drug charges and suspicion of assaulting a police officer, took the deputy’s radio and the keys to a 2017 Toyota Sienna minivan belonging to the Rotary Club in Westcliffe on Sunday night, the Custer County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

The van has stickers with the club’s name on both sides and back of the vehicle. The club keeps keys stored at the jail in the town of about 570 people, Undersheriff Chris Barr told The Denver Post.

The deputy had been conducting rounds of the six-cell jail when Williams and Webb hit her, threw her in a cell and closed the doors that automatically locked, Barr said.

The deputy kicked at the door and another inmate alerted another deputy, Barr said.

The deputy who was attacked was not seriously injured.

“She got an elbow in the face, but she’s fine,” Barr said.

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