An inmate who escaped from a New Orleans jail with 9 others in May was captured while hiding in a house in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday.
Police surrounded the house on Wednesday morning and took Groves into custody about an hour later.
Groves, 27, was the last of 10 inmates who escaped from the Orleans Parish Justice Center in New Orleans on May 16.
Most of the escapees were captured within hours. But Groves managed to elude U.S. Marshals for five months. He became a hero to some who believe the American justice system is unfair to Black men.
“The moment Derrick Groves realized it was game over ??”
“Derrick Groves thought he could run… until this happened ?”
“That split second when Derrick Groves saw the flashing lights ?????”
“Caught in 4K: Derrick Groves meets the cops ??” pic.twitter.com/naHL3idSNr
— NOVA (@NOVAxKING) October 8, 2025
Groves was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder. He was convicted in 2024 for fatally shooting two people and wounding several others at a Mardi Gras block rave.
Groves is the grandson of Kim Groves, a 9th Ward mother-of-three who was killed by former NOPD officer Len Davis in 1994.
Witnesses said Davis killed Kim because she saw him beating someone in the neighborhood.
He was later found to have framed three innocent teenagers for a murder he himself committed. The teenagers were sentenced to a combined 84 years in prison.
In 1996 Davis was convicted of Kim’s murder and sentenced to death.
The Fifth Circuit reversed Davis’s death sentence, and in 2005 another jury sentenced him to death again.
President Joe Biden commuted Davis’ sentence to life in December 2024.
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