Eight days after he escaped from the Warren County Jail, Rafael McCloud’s luck ran out. 
 
 McCloud, 34, was found dead about 7 a.m. Thursday in the tub of a bathroom of a home he broke into, shot by the residents. 
 
 According to Vicksburg police, McCloud was holding the couple and their 5-year-old son in the bathroom, when he allowed the wife to leave. She returned with a handgun and fired one shot, which she believed to hit McCloud. After she freed her husband, he took the gun and fired additional shots at McCloud. The family left the house and ran outside, where they flagged down a passing motorist and asked them to call 911. 
 
 McCloud was found in the bathtub with multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head. He was declared dead at the scene by deputy Warren County corner Kelda Bailess. An autopsy was ordered. 
 
 His death ends a round-the-clock search for him that began March 2 when he overpowered a jail guard and managed to slip out a side door at the jail. 
 
 “This is certainly not how we wanted this to end,” said Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace. “Our goal was to take him back into custody and have him stand before a jury in Warren County. But he brought this upon himself. 
 
 “We are incredibly relieved this family was not seriously injured and they were able to protect themselves this morning,” Pace said. “It’s been a long week for this community and we appreciate the cooperation of the public as we have pursued this community.” 
 
 Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong said authorities believe McCloud had help while he was on the lam in avoiding authorities. 
 
 “He had on tennis shoes; nice, white tennis shoes and a pair of blue jeans, so there is some indication someone has been helping him or he stole those items,” the chief said. “But the shoes looked to be the exact size he wears.” 
 
 He added police received several reports that McCloud had been seen in the Fort Hill area, including a report he was seen around the McNutt House, a historic home on First East Street. He said police were checking other homes on Fort Hill Drive to see if McCloud might have attempted to or broke in them. 
 
 McCloud was shot several hours after he broke into the home in the 600 block of Fort Hill Drive about 4 a.m. Thursday, fought with the homeowner and his wife and held them hostage until they were able to get free and shoot McCloud. Armstrong said the man suffered a non-lifethreatening stab wound and was taken to Merit Health River Region Medical Center for treatment. His wife was hit it the head during a fight with McCloud, but did not have to go to the hospital. 
 
 Armstrong said McCloud entered the house through an unlocked door and attacked the husband when he was on his way to the garage to start his wife’s car. The man and his wife both fought McCloud before he was able to subdue them. 
 
 McCloud was awaiting trial for capital murder and other charges in the June 28 abduction and death of Sharen Wilson. He escaped from the jail about 5:30 a.m. March 2 after using a shank, or homemade knife, to assault and overpower one of the three guards on duty at the jail. 
 
 Sheriff’s deputies assisted by Vicksburg police and state and federal law enforcement agencies concentrated their efforts in the northern part of the city, where authorities said he was known to have lived and has friends and relatives. 
 
 Search teams also multiple times revisited the Kuhn Memorial Hospital property, where McCloud is accused of killing Wilson, and where officers March 3 found a pair of pants he took from the jail guard. 
 
 Teams Friday searched all three buildings on the property floor-by-floor in an effort to find him. Thursday, they used a Mississippi Highway Patrol infrared-equipped helicopter to scan the building and other areas without results. 
 
 McCloud, who had been in the Warren County Jail since his arrest June 29, was indicted in January on multiple counts involving Wilson’s death, and has prior felony convictions for auto burglary, grand larceny and armed robbery, according to court records. 
 
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 Post editor Jan Griffey and reporter Austin Vining contributed to this report. 

 VICKSBURG, Miss. --An accused murderer who escaped from a Mississippi jail more than a week ago was shot and killed this morning by a person he held hostage during a nearly three-hour-long confrontation, police say. 
 
 "That is correct. He has met his maker," Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong said in an interview with 48 Hours' Crimesider. 
 
 The eight-day hunt for Rafael McCloud ended around 7 a.m. when police were called to a home about a half mile from the jail McCloud escaped from on March 2. Vicksburg police chief Walter Armstrong said McCloud entered the house through an unlocked garage door at about 4 a.m. 
 
 During the next three hours, a husband and wife who were inside with their baby experienced what Armstrong described as "torture." 
 
 The husband told police he confronted McCloud soon after the escaped inmate entered the home. Armstrong said it was apparent to police that the couple engaged McCloud in an intense fight, moving throughout the house. 
 
 Ultimately, the husband was stabbed in the shoulder, and McCloud managed to subdue both victims, tying them up, Armstrong said. 
 
 Then, before 7 a.m., the couple managed to get loose. One of them grabbed a gun and shot McCloud. By the time police arrived, he had already died, Armstrong said. 
 
 "This community has really been frightened for over a week, and that has come to an end as of this morning," Armstrong said. 
 
 The husband is being treated at a nearby hospital for his injury, which Armstrong said is not life threatening. 
 
 McCloud was accused of rape, murder and other crimes, in the June 2015 death of Sharon Wilson. Police said he sexually assaulted the 69-year-old in her home, before bringing her to an abandoned hospital, where he allegedly shot and killed her. Wilson's body was later found by a group of so-called ghost hunters exploring the hospital. 
 
 McCloud was indicted in January and escaped by using a homemade knife to corner a jail employee, stealing the person's uniform, keys and radio, before fleeing. 
 
 Armstrong said police are now investigating the possibility that McCloud received assistance from people during his eight days on the lam. 
 
 "I believe he's had help. He had on a nice white pair of tennis shoes, and he had jeans on that he didn't have when he left jail," Armstrong said.
– An escaped inmate accused of raping and murdering a woman last year was shot and killed in Mississippi on Thursday by the very people he had taken prisoner. Officials say Rafael McCloud, 34—who escaped from a Warren County jail on March 2 with a worker's uniform—was killed by the couple he was holding hostage in a Vicksburg home. Police chief Walter Armstrong tells CBS News that McCloud entered the home through a garage door around 4am Thursday and fought a man and woman who were home with their 5-year-old son. The man was stabbed in the shoulder and his wife was hit in the head before both were tied up in a bathroom, reports the Vicksburg Post. Around 7am, however, the woman either was allowed to leave the room or she freed herself, but either way, she returned with a gun. Police say she fired one shot she thought hit McCloud, then untied her husband, who fired several more shots. The family then flagged down a passing motorist who called 911. Police found McCloud dead in the tub with multiple bullet wounds. "This community has really been frightened for over a week, and that has come to an end," Armstrong says, calling the couple's treatment "torture." McCloud, who was indicted in January, escaped from jail after cornering a jail worker with a shank and walked out with a uniform, keys, and radio. A day later, police found the uniform pants at the abandoned hospital where he allegedly killed Sharon Wilson, 69. Cops are now investigating if McCloud had help on the run. "He had on a nice white pair of tennis shoes, and he had jeans on that he didn't have when he left jail," Armstrong says. "The shoes looked to be the exact size he wears."