WASHINGTON — The man accused of escaping from U.S. Marshals Service custody at Inova Fairfax Hospital sparking a massive manhunt in March has now been indicted on charges connected to his escape.
The indictment charges Wossen Assaye, 42, with a total of 16 counts that include six bank robbery counts, escape, kidnapping and assaulting or resisting two guards as well as several gun-related counts.
He was arrested in Southeast D.C. March 31 after an hourslong manhunt. It stretched from Inova Fairfax, to the spot investigators say he kicked out the trunk of a car to steal it from a startled to commuter, to a second carjacking in Annandale before the arrest in D.C.
Investigators say he overpowered a guard around 3 a.m. while her partner was using the bathroom. Fairfax County Police say that partner fired one shot inside the hospital, but no one was hurt.
Assaye managed to get the female guard’s gun and he walked her down the hallway using the female guard as a shield before running for the stairs.
Dressed in a hospital gown and wearing no shoes, Assaye ran to to a nearby apartment complex where he hid in the trunk of a Toyota Camry for several hours. While the car owner was driving to work, he kicked through the back seat from the trunk and eventually stole the car.
Assaye later stole a second car from an Annandale neighborhood.
Police arrested Assaye in the area of Minnesota Avenue and 25th Street SE after a nine-hour manhunt. His arrest came after a tip from a member of the public, who spotted Assaye on the street.
Assaye had originally been arrested on a federal bank robbery charge, and was brought to the hospital from the Alexandria jail after a suicide attempt.
He was being guarded in the hospital by private guards under contract with the Marshals Service.
Prosecutors say Assaye is responsible for a number of bank robberies across Northern Virginia over the last year and a half. They say he usually escaped on a bicycle.
Assaye’s arraignment has been set for June 5, 2015 at 9 a.m. in Alexandria District Court.
