Convicted teen murderer, 2 others who escaped detention center arrested; 2 escapees still missing

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — Deputies from the King County Sheriff’s Office have arrested three of five teens who escaped from Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie on Wednesday.

The teens are between 14 to 17 years old. They have violent records, including one with a murder conviction, 15-year-old Timothy Hernandez-Ebanks, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.

Hernandez-Ebanks was arrested by deputies in South King County at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

Two others were later arrested, one by Kent police and another by Kirkland police, without incident.

Now investigators are working to track down the remaining two teen escapees.

Hernandez-Ebanks was considered the most dangerous among the teens, investigators said.

Hernandez-Ebanks was convicted of fatally shooting a man.

According to court documents, Hernandez-Ebanks was walking down a Burien street on the night of April 2020 when he pulled out a loaded 9 mm handgun and randomly shot 35-year-old Hassan Ali Hassan.

Hernandez-Ebanks shot Hassan in the back of the head because “he just felt like doing it,” court documents state.

Police said he confessed to the crime, and he was eventually sent to Echo Glen Children’s Center.

But on Wednesday morning, Hernandez-Ebanks escaped with the other teens.

Investigators said the teens strong-armed several employees at the facility and stole a car at around 7:45 a.m.

The teenagers fled in a gray 2018 Ford Fusion belonging to the facility, and it has a Washington license plate 27545E. Law enforcement is still looking for the car.

Echo Glen Children’s Center is a security facility that is not fenced but is bordered by natural wetlands.

The facility provides treatment services for younger male offenders and is the only institution for female offenders.

The facility provides dialectical behavior therapy, aggression replacement treatment, cultural programming, sex offense-specific treatment and inpatient chemical dependency treatment, with gender-specific programming for females.

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