The victims of killings blamed on a Texas inmate who escaped prison were a grandpa and 4 grandsons

• A grandfather and four grandsons killed in Texas were named by police on Friday.
• Police believe an escaped prisoner did it while on the run. Police later killed him in a shootout.

Four boys and their grandfather were named as the victims in killings blamed on an escaped Texas prison inmate.

Eleven-year-old Hudson and Bryson, 16-year-old Carson, 18-year-old Waylon, and their grandfather Mark Collins, 66, were those killed in Centerville, Texas, officials said at a press conference on Friday.

Local outlet KHOU shared family photographs of them on Twitter:

Police said they were killed by Gonzalo Artemio Lopez, who was himself killed in a shootout with police later that day, The New York Times reported.

Lopez had been at large in the area since May 12, when he escaped a prison bus on the way to a medical appointment. He had been serving two life sentences for murder, kidnapping and attempted murder at the time.

Police launched a massive manhunt and offered $50,000 for information leading to his arrest.

Mark Collins and his grandsons were at the family ranch for a fishing trip on Thursday, according to The Washington Post.

Police said a concerned family member raised the alarm after being unable to reach Collins. At the ranch, police found the bodies and saw that the family's white 1999 Chevy Silverado was missing, according to the Post.

They caught up with Lopez in the vehicle 260 miles away near San Antonio, where he crashed into a post and was killed in a shootout, the Post reported.

Speaking at the press conference, family friend David Crain said that Collins had been aware that Lopez was at large in the area, and that police had swept the Collins ranch several times before.

He said he was unsure if Collins had known about a burglary in the next door property, "two or three days prior," that has been linked to Lopez.

"I do feel that had Mark been made aware that [the fugitive] was within a day or two of being on his property he would have never exposed those kids to that danger, but I can't speak to what Mark did or didn't know," said Crain.

The family's pastor, Steve Bezner, described the family as large and close-knit. He said at the press conference he had sat with the surviving family and emphasized their anguish and their "unrelenting faith."

On Facebook, he shared a statement from the family which described the victims as "precious people who loved and were loved by so many," and requested privacy. The family set up a fundraiser, he said at the press conference.

Bezner told the Post that the family had had no previous connection with the escaped prisoner.