An armed prisoner was on the run on Tuesday after escaping from a hospital near Washington DC where a shot was fired during a struggle with a guard, police said.
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 Twitter.
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 centre, Assaye overpowered the guard and took his gun, police said. One shot was fired, but no one was injured.
Roads around the hospital were closed off as authorities from several different agencies searched for the suspect, who was dressed only in a hospital gown.
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 the local broadcaster WJLA showed a heavy police presence outside the hospital, with several police cars on surrounding streets.
Representatives of the hospital, which is about 15 miles (24 km) west of Washington DC, could not be reached for comment.