Felon Displays Gun, Flees Court

An ex-convict who had been sentenced to four life-prison terms for robbery and kidnaping pulled a gun this morning while waiting to appear in court on separate robbery charges and escaped from a court holding cell, authorities said.

Daniel Vega, 23, feigned illness to get out of a locked cell in Pasadena Superior Court at about 9:30 a.m., a Sheriff’s department spokesman said. As he was being escorted to another cell, Vega, wearing leg chains, pulled a small caliber pistol and ordered a sheriff’s deputy to unlock the doors in the holding area. He then fled outside to a waiting pickup truck.