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The prisoner, identified as Wossen Assaye by the Fairfax
County Police Department, broke free from a private security
guard at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia, and
fled with the guard's weapon, the department said on its Twitter
account.
Police said Assaye was being held by the nearby city of
Alexandria on federal charges of armed bank robbery and was
taken to a local hospital after he tried to harm himself.
While at the medical center, Assaye overpowered the guard and
took his gun, police said. One shot was fired, but no one was
injured, police said.
Roads around the hospital were shut down as authorities from
several different agencies searched for the suspect, who was
dressed only in a hospital gown, police said.
The hospital was also locked down and employees were told to go
to a local high school to board a shuttle bus to the facility,
police said.
Footage posted online by local broadcaster WJLA showed a heavy
police presence outside the hospital, with several squad cars on
surrounding streets.
Representatives of the hospital, which is situated about 15
miles (24 km) west of Washington D.C., could not immediately be
reached for comment.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Larry
King and W So,pm)
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