The Orange County District Attorney’s Office on Friday warned that an “extremely dangerous and violent” 18-year-old who was previously convicted of stabbing his mother to death and later attacked three correctional officers is currently “at large” in the community.

Ike Souzer was supposed to be on electronic monitoring at a Santa Ana halfway house following his recent court-ordered release from the Theo Lacy jail facility in Orange, but is currently listed as “at large,” according to a DA statement.

Prosecutors believe that Souzer – who previously escaped from juvenile hall while being tried on a murder charge –  poses a “significant public safety threat,” according to the statement. Officials declined to explain how his status changed to “at large” rather than being monitored at the halfway house.

In May 2017, Souzer, then 13, was arrested for repeatedly stabbing his mother and leaving her to die in front of their Garden Grove home. While dying, the mother told an officer that her son had attacked her, and police found him hiding in a nearby alley.

In April 2019, then-15-year-old Souzer got out of a locked housing unit at juvenile hall in Orange and over an exterior, barbed-wire fence. He spent nearly a day on the loose before being found by law enforcement at a McDonald’s restaurant in Anaheim.

Several months later, a juvenile court judge found Souzer guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The judge did not state why he believed Souzer was guilty of manslaughter rather than murder, but Souzer’s defense attorney contended there was evidence that Souzer acted in self-defense after years of abuse.

As a minor at the time, Souzer was barred from being held on the manslaughter conviction past the age of 25, and he was expected to serve his sentence in a juvenile facility.

In 2021, Souzer was charged with several counts of battery with injury involving deputy juvenile correctional officers, according to court records. He was convicted of the new charges in December, according to the DA statement, and ordered to wear an electronic monitor for the remainder of a sentence that was set to expire on July 9, 2023.

The DA warned residents not to approach Souzer, and to call 911 if they see him.

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