A man who escaped from a courthouse in Mississippi and went on the run while wanted for murder and armed robbery was recaptured in Chicago after an all-night standoff that occurred just blocks from the Democratic national convention.
The standoff with a tactical Swat team took place while, close by, convention delegates from all the US states and territories were nominating Kamala Harris for the presidency and her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, and former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were giving speeches.
The authorities said the fugitive was taken into custody on Wednesday morning after police closed in on him at a restaurant late on Tuesday afternoon near the United Center, where the convention is taking place about 3 miles (4.8km) to the west of downtown Chicago.
Joshua Zimmerman was recaptured on Wednesday morning and taken into custody, said Abigail Meyer, a spokesperson with the US Marshals Service. The standoff with the law enforcement tactical weapons team began around 4pm on Tuesday and was over by 7.20am on Wednesday, the Chicago police department said.
Zimmerman had escaped from the circuit court building in Hernando, Mississippi, in June and ever since had been sought by the US Marshals Service, according to Justin Smith, chief deputy with the DeSoto county sheriff’s office in Mississippi.
Zimmerman was being held in Mississippi on attempted murder and armed robbery charges and was also awaiting extradition across state lines to Houston, Texas, where he has been charged with murder, the Marshals Service said.
It was not immediately clear how authorities had tracked Zimmerman to Chicago and there was no indication of any connection to the Democratic national convention.
But the restaurant he was believed to have holed up inside was located just about half a mile (0.8km) from the United Center in Chicago.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Smith said that Zimmerman was “barricaded inside that restaurant” and that authorities want to bring him back to Mississippi and “gather the remaining facts surrounding his escape”.
The drama unfolded while some of the biggest names in Democratic politics, such as Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders, were either in the audience or speaking at the Democratic convention and celebrities including the rapper Lil Jon and the film director Spike Lee played prominent roles. Meanwhile, Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, were in Milwaukee for a rally that was beamed into the convention center after the US vice-president was ceremonially voted in as the party’s nominee for president.
Walz is due to speak and be nominated as the party’s vice-presidential nominee on Wednesday night and Harris will give her keynote speech on Thursday evening.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
