IRVING, Texas (AP) — Seven escaped convicts may have carried out a threat they made when they broke out of prison nearly two weeks ago, police said.

"You haven't heard the last of us yet," read a note the men left when fleeing the Connally Unit in Kenedy on Dec. 13, said John McAuliffe, inspector general of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Now, the men are suspected in the shooting death of Officer Aubry Hawkins, 29, who attempted to break up a Christmas Eve robbery at an Oshman's sporting goods.

"It certainly will be a Christmas to remember and for all the wrong reasons," said Jimmy Perdue, Irving's assistant police chief.

Investigators filed capital murder warrants against the seven convicts, who remained at large Tuesday. Two dozen employees herded to the back of the store during the holdup helped identify the suspects, said Chief Lowell Cannaday.

A makeshift memorial had taken shape at the sports store, which was closed in honor of the fallen officer.

Hawkins' weapon had not been found. Police spokesman David Tull said he didn't know if the robbers took any weapons or ammunition from the store.

During the prison break, the convicts took 14 .357-caliber Magnum pistols with 238 rounds of ammunition, a loaded automatic rifle and a loaded shotgun.

It is unusual that the suspects have remained together since their escape, said Larry Fitzgerald, spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

"These are desperate and dangerous people," Fitzgerald said.

The prison, 65 miles southeast of San Antonio and more than 300 from Irving, has a capacity of 2,834 male prisoners. It opened in July 1995 and has 550 security personnel.

The escape was the prison's fourth inmate uprising this year.

In April, eight prisoners assaulted three officers, inflicting minor injuries, and in June an inmate severely beat a corrections officer. Also in June, another officer suffered minor injuries when she was stabbed six times by an inmate carrying a sharpened metal rod.