Inova Fairfax locks down after prisoner escapes from hospital

Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., was on lockdown early Tuesday morning after a prisoner who was being treated at the hospital stole a gun from a private security guard and escaped, according to a Washington Post report.

The prisoner, Wossen Assaye, was in the custody of an outsourced security detail at Inova Fairfax. He was taken to the hospital March 27 after he tried to kill himself. There, he then overpowered the security guard in a struggle Tuesday morning and ran out of the hospital in his gown with no shoes on.

Inova Fairfax's lockdown was lifted around 8 a.m., according to the Post. During the lockdown, hospital employees were told to go to a nearby high school, where shuttles would pick them up and take them to the hospital, since they could not drive onto the property. Ambulances were being diverted to nearby hospitals, and the hospital advised patients who needed emergency services to seek treatment elsewhere.

According to Inova Health's Twitter feed, elective surgeries for the day have not been canceled.

 

Mr. Assaye was being held for his alleged involvement in several bank robberies in the area. As of 9:15 a.m. Central, he has yet to be found.

 

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