We study the escape dynamics of test particles in general-relativistic gravitational fields generated by core-shell models, which are used in astrophysics as idealized models to observed mass distributions, such as the interior of galaxies. As a general-relativistic core-halo system, we use exact axisymmetric static solutions of Einstein's field equations which represent the superposition of a central Schwarzschild black hole (the core) and multipolar fields from external masses (the halo). We are particularly interested in the occurrence of chaos in the escape, which is characterized by a great sensitivity of the choice of escape by a test particle to initial conditions. The motion of both material particles and zero rest mass particles is...