Murder suspect who escaped DC hospital captured after seven weeks on the run

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Surveillance footage showing Christopher Haynes' escape from D.C. police

Christopher Haynes, who was in custody for an alleged August murder, was in a hospital after complaining of an ankle injury before he took off. Credit: Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police

An accused murderer was taken back into custody by police after he escaped while wearing just one shoe and handcuffs clasped to a wrist seven weeks earlier, Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday. 

Christopher Haynes, 30, complained of ankle pain from a previous injury when he was arrested Sept. 6 in Manassas, Virginia, for allegedly fatally shooting Brent Hayward, 33, Aug. 12, per a department press release. 

Officers reportedly took him to a hospital near George Washington University, and the man "physically assaulted an officer" and bolted when one of the officers unclasped one of his handcuffs to lock him to a gurney, police said. 

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Christopher Haynes is pictured in his most recent mugshot after he was recaptured by D.C. Metropolitan Police Thursday. The murder suspect, accused of shooting 33-year-old Brent Hayward, had been on the run since evading police at a hospital Sept. 6. (Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department)

"Both officers chased Haynes but were unable to catch him," the Metropolitan Police Department wrote in a release. 

The department released footage of Haynes after his escape in which he is seen creeping through a backyard in socks and jumping a fence. 

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Christopher Haynes is pictured creeping through a backyard in socks before he climbs a fence into another yard in surveillance footage shot hours after his escape.  (DC Police Department)

For hours after his escape, George Washington University students were ordered to shelter in place, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Haynes was recaptured at an apartment in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Thursday, nearly two months after his escape. 

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Haynes slipped out of authorities' hands after he allegedly attacked an officer while he was being handcuffed to a gurney at George Washington University Hospital Sept. 6. (Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

He made an attempt to run, the U.S. Marshals Office told Fox 5, but surrendered once he saw the huge presence surrounding him.

Fox News Digital was unable to reach Metropolitan Police for further details, but the department applauded "members of the community who assisted in providing information" that led police to his location.

Hayward's family was alerted to the accused killer's capture Thursday, per Fox 5. 

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Christopher Haynes, pictured in his mugshot before his escape, is accused of killing a man named Brent Hayward in August and has a history of attacking police officers, court records show. (Washington Metropolitan Police Dept.)

"I just started crying. … It was just like a big weight off my shoulders," Hayward's mother, Sheila Jackson, told Fox 5. "I have a lot more confidence in our government, police force, detectives. I just have a lot more confidence in our world."

Members of the U.S. Marshals Service Task Force joined D.C. police in their search, and the FBI offered a $10,000 reward, which was later tripled, for information leading to Haynes' capture. 

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It is unclear whether anyone will receive that reward money. 

Haynes had a history of assaulting law enforcement officers, Fox 5 reported. In September 2020, he was accused of attempting to hit three Prince William County officers with his car. He pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted malicious wounding on law enforcement officers and served seven months of a two-year sentence followed by two years probation.