Rafael McCloud, who escaped Wednesday from the Warren County Jail, remained on the lam Thursday morning as Warren County sheriff’s deputies and Vicksburg police assisted by state and federal authorities continued their efforts to locate him and put him back behind bars.

McCloud, 34, who is awaiting trial for murder and other charges in the June 28 abduction and death of Sharen Wilson, escaped from the jail about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday after using a shank, or homemade knife, to assault and overpower one of the three guards on duty at the jail, Sheriff Martin Pace said. McCloud was last seen wearing green pants and a black jacket; however, Pace said the pants were recovered Wednesday night.

He swapped clothes with the guard and held him hostage until he was able to leave the jail through a side door, taking the guard’s keys and radio, which were later recovered near the jail.

Pace said the guard was not injured and is on administrative leave with pay pending the investigation into the escape. He said the shank McCloud used to threaten the guard was not recovered, and investigators were reviewing security video to determine what was used to make the weapon. He said McCloud is considered armed and dangerous.

McCloud’s escape set off a massive manhunt through the city and county as authorities responded to multiple calls from residents who claimed they saw him roaming their neighborhoods, and visited the homes of people who knew him, including, Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong said, some of McCloud’s cousins, who live in the Sky Farm Avenue area.

“We received calls from residents who thought they saw him, and we checked each report out,” Pace said.

“We are still working double shifts and will continue to do that until he is caught,” Pace said, “And we are getting a lot of help and support from the state agencies, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, state Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks enforcement agents and the U.S. Marshal’s service.”

Police Chief Walter Armstrong said his department is continuing to assist in the search, but is not using double shifts.

“We have extra people out, and we’ve got some investigators out on the streets looking,” he said,

During their search Wednesday, officers were twice called to the Fort Hill Drive area near the Vicksburg National Military Park after residents reported seeing a man meeting McCloud’s description in a wooded area between Fort Hill and North Washington Street, and a later call claiming he was hiding in a house.

Authorities also searched the area around Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with the aid of an infrared-equipped Mississippi Highway Patrol helicopter.

At one point Wednesday afternoon, police officers, deputies, agents with MBI, MBN, and wildlife and fisheries agents surrounded a building at the Dixieanna Hotel on South Washington Street after receiving word McCloud was there, but they were unable to find him.

If anyone believes they see McCloud or has information about his whereabouts, they should call 911 or Crimestoppers, Pace said.

“They don’t have to give their name,” he said. “We will check out any report we receive.”

McCloud, who had been in the Warren County Jail since his arrest June 29, was indicted on multiples counts involving Wilson’s death in January, and has prior felony convictions for auto burglary, grand larceny and armed robbery, according to court records.