A murderer who escaped from a prison bus in May before going on the run and killing five people used a homemade key to get out of a cage being used to transport him, a Texas state senator said Tuesday. Sen. John Whitmire (D) said Gonzalo Lopez, a convict linked to the Mexican mafia, had attacked an officer after his initial escape, commandeering the bus only to crash it and flee into the woods on foot, according to 25 News. Lopez, Whitmire said, told the 16 other inmates on the bus of his plan ahead of time. The group began “making a disturbance” for him, “singing and jumping up and down,” the senator added. Although officials initially said Lopez had used a knife to cut his way to freedom, Whitmire told reporters that the convict had used the same key to slip out of both his cage and his restraints. Lopez, “the worst of the worst” in Whitmire’s estimation, was gunned down by authorities on Thursday night. His victims, a man and his four grandsons, were in the wrong place at the wrong time, according to police. The key has not yet been found, either having been squirreled away by another inmate or “lost in the shuffle,” Whitmire said.