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McDonald's murder suspect snaps handcuffs, escapes interrogation room

A murder suspect was filmed breaking a set of handcuffs and climbing out through the roof to escape from a Nevada police interrogation room after he allegedly shot a man outside a McDonald's.

Alonso Perez is alleged to have shot and killed Mohammed Robinson outside a McDonald's restaurant in Las Vegas on August 27.

Alonso Perez suspected of fatally shooting Mohammed Robinson outside a McDonald's. Photo: Las Vegas Police department
Alonso Perez suspected of fatally shooting Mohammed Robinson outside a McDonald's. Photo: Las Vegas Police department

Footage of his subsequent escape shows the murder suspect was left alone in the room when he began twisting and muscling the hinge of the handcuffs attaching his right wrist to a metal bar on a table.

"He torques it to the point, using some of his body weight, that it snaps the hinges," Police Chief Alexander Perez said.

When the police chief returned to his seat, he said the suspect sat calmly with his wrist on the bar when a police detective checked on him.

When Perez was alone again, he climbed into the ceiling to make his escape.

Still wearing ankle chains and the broken cuff on his right wrist, the homicide suspect dropped down from the ceiling into a hallway.

He exited a door and stole a work truck that had been left idling in a nearby parking lot and fled.

It was another 25 minutes before detectives realised the 25-year-old was gone.

The truck, emblazoned with a rental company name, was recovered a few hours later abandoned in a neighborhood in downtown Las Vegas.

That wasn't far from where Perez was re-arrested, when police and FBI agents arrived at an apartment not far from where the truck had been found, police said.

Perez didn't resist arrest, and the police chief said another person in the apartment wasn't charged with a crime.

The homicide suspect wasn't armed when he was arrested, and wasn't still wearing the handcuff and ankle chains.

The police chief and the suspect are not related.

Alonso is seen peering up at the camera moments before he made his escape. Photo: Las Vegas Police department
Alonso is seen peering up at the camera moments before he made his escape. Photo: Las Vegas Police department

Chief Perez said detectives are still looking for the weapon believed to have been used in the McDonald's slaying.

Witnesses have said the fatal argument began with angry words about Robinson not holding a door open for a woman.

Perez was held overnight at the Clark County jail in Las Vegas pending court appearances on use of a firearm, assault and domestic battery charges in a separate case, according to court records.

It wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

Murder, use of a firearm, escape and auto theft charges were added, the police chief said.

These are the handcuffs Alonso Perez snapped and the ceiling batts he pulled apart to escape. Photo: Las Vegas Police department
These are the handcuffs Alonso Perez snapped and the ceiling batts he pulled apart to escape. Photo: Las Vegas Police department

A North Las Vegas judge set his bail at more than US$1.6 million on 10 felony charges stemming from the escape

The police chief said the escape involving broken handcuffs from a police interview room was the first in his 25 years as an officer in North Las Vegas.

He said an internal investigation is looking at mistakes made.

The detectives handling the interview on Friday are still on the case.

North Las Vegas Police Chief Alexander Perez made the September 1 video public on Wednesday.