Suspect in fatal beating at Pat’s Steaks allegedly helped inmates escape prison

A 35-year-old man jailed on murder charges is expected to face new charges for serving as a lookout for the two men who escaped from a Philadelphia jail this week, authorities said Friday.

Jose Alberto Flores-Huerta — incarcerated for allegedly participating in a fatal beating outside Pat’s King of Steaks in 2021 — is expected to be charged with crimes including conspiracy and escape, the Police Department said in a statement.

Police declined to provide additional details about Flores-Huerta’s alleged role in the breakout. He is the second person in two days to be accused of helping Nasir Grant, 24, and Ameen Hurst, 18, break out of the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center on Sunday. The pair sneaked out through a hole in a chain-link fence, police said.

The announcement of the impending charges came just hours after Grant was captured in North Philadelphia on Thursday night by U.S. Marshals while disguised in women’s clothing. Grant was arraigned on a new count of escape Friday morning, and bail was set at $10 million.

The developments marked the latest chapter in the breakout and law enforcement search that has gripped the city and spanned nearly a week. Still, much remains unknown as authorities continue to search for Hurst — who is charged in four homicides and other crimes — including where Hurst might be, how he and Grant managed to escape and avoid detection, and whether or when any others might face charges in connection with assisting them.

Grant, 24, had been jailed on gun and drug charges before he and Hurst broke free around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, authorities said. But his multiday stretch on the run came to an end Thursday night, when agents with the U.S. Marshals set up surveillance around the 2400 block of West Cambria Street, where they believed Grant might be, said Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Clark.

Clark said agents had received information that Grant “may have been trying to conceal” his identity. Around 10:20 p.m., Clark said, agents noticed someone leaving a house and getting into a car in what Clark described as women’s Muslim clothing, including a head covering that obscured his face.

Agents followed the car for about a mile, to the 2800 block of Dauphin Street, where Clark said they pulled the car over and found Grant in the passenger seat. He was arrested without incident, Clark said. The driver of the car was interviewed but allowed to leave, according to Clark.

It was not immediately clear whether Grant had secured an attorney in his new case, or where he might be jailed to await trial. Court records suggested he was going to be held at a facility outside Philadelphia, but the records did not provide specifics.

Flores-Huerta, of South Philadelphia, has been jailed since 2021, when he was charged with taking part in the fatal beating of Isidro Cortes outside Pat’s Steaks in South Philadelphia. Authorities said Flores-Huerta and several other men also assaulted Cortes’ father and another man during the brawl, which followed a CONCACAF Champions League soccer game in Chester between the Philadelphia Union and Club América, a team from Mexico City.

At a preliminary hearing last year, Flores-Huerta’s lawyer contended that two other men — who have not been caught — were primarily responsible for striking Isidro Cortes. But a judge was not persuaded, and she ordered Flores-Huerta held for trial on counts including murder, conspiracy, and aggravated assault. He was denied bail, and a trial is scheduled for the fall.

The extent to which Flores-Huerta was involved in the escape was not immediately clear Friday. For more than two years, prisoners, advocates, and union officials have warned of a growing crisis at the city’s jails, where nearly 4,400 people are held. Last week, the union representing officers announced a vote of no confidence in Prisons Commissioner Blanche Carney’s leadership, saying the prisons are about 800 officers short of a full staffing complement.

On Thursday, prosecutors charged another person — 21-year-old Xianni Stallings — with assisting in the breakout, saying she put Hurst in touch with a potential getaway driver during recorded phone calls he made from the jail just hours before he escaped.

Stallings was being held on $500,000 bail, court records show. They did not specify where she was being held.

As a search for Hurst continued Friday, his grandmother said she found the charges against him “shocking.”

“He was not a coldblooded kind of little boy,” Janie Young said in an interview while sitting on her porch on a quiet tree-lined block in Overbrook, not far from where Hurst is accused of killing his first victim. “In fact, he was always happy, never mean.”

Young said she is trying to stay strong and calm while a massive hunt for her grandson continues. She hasn’t heard from Hurst this week, she said, and doesn’t expect he will call.

“He didn’t call when he was in prison,” she said.

In Holmesburg, meanwhile, many residents who live near the jail said Friday that they were proud of their beautiful, working-class neighborhood — and not especially concerned with the jailbreak.

“It’s easy enough to ignore [the jail],” said 54-year-old Brian Teesdale, who lives about a mile away. “It’s not like every day someone is getting out of there.”

Staff writers Lynette Hazelton and Ximena Conde contributed to this article.