Va. Manhunt Ends After 9 Hours—on DC Bus

Wossen Assaye was described as 'dangerous' after fleeing Fairfax hospital
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 31, 2015 6:52 AM CDT
Updated Mar 31, 2015 11:41 AM CDT
Prisoner Overpowers Guard, Flees Va. Hospital With Gun
Police locked down Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., Tuesday, March 31, 2015, and closed roads as they searched for Wossen Assaye, who is said to be armed and dangerous.   (AP Photo/Fairfax County Police Department)

Police have nabbed the prisoner who broke out of a hospital in northern Virginia this morning, barefoot and clad only in a hospital gown, after a nine-hour manhunt that put Inova Fairfax Hospital on lockdown. Wossen Assaye was apprehended near DC's Pennsylvania Avenue, reports NBC Washington, and the man known as the "bicycle bandit" for his alleged method of escaping bank robberies was busted getting off a Metrobus, WUSA adds. It wasn't his only method of transportation this day: Police say Assaye jacked two cars in the course of his travels.

In addition to putting the hospital on lockdown, Fairfax County Police earlier closed down local roads as they searched for Assaye, whom they described as "armed and dangerous," reports CBS News. As USA Today reports, Assaye overpowered a private security guard accompanying him and fled the hospital with the guard's gun about 3am today. Police say Assaye was brought to the Falls Church hospital after trying to hurt himself. Police confirmed that at least one shot was fired in the scuffle, though there were no reported injuries. (More Fairfax stories.)

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