Following a shelter-in-place order at George Washington University that lasted into the late evening Wednesday, District and federal law enforcement continue their search for a fugitive murder suspect 24 hours after he made his escape.
That shelter-in-place order was issued around 3 p.m. Wednesday, after Christopher Haynes, a man charged with a homicide offense, escaped police custody at George Washington Hospital.
D.C. police and federal law enforcement are currently offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to Haynes’ arrest.
Haynes is described as a 30-year-old Black male with shoulder length dreadlocks and a Washington Nationals tattoo on his neck. He weighs around 180 pounds and has a medium brown complexion.
Surveillance footage of Haynes in the back patio of a home on the 900 block of 23rd Street, Northwest was released Thursday night.
According to Smith, Haynes had been arrested Wednesday morning in Manassas, Virginia, on a D.C. arrest warrant in connection to the Aug. 12 shooting death of 33-year-old Brent Hayward, of Gainesville, Virginia, in the 1500 block of Kenilworth Avenue in Northeast D.C.
After Haynes’ waived his right to extradition in Virginia, he was brought to the MPD’s homicide branch to be booked and processed later on Wednesday.
A few hours later, around 3 p.m., Haynes had complained about a preexisting ankle injury and was brought to the GWU Hospital for treatment.
It was around 3:30 p.m., as an attending officer was switching out Haynes’ handcuffs to a hospital gurney, that Haines assaulted the officer and fled the hospital, Smith said. D.C. police called for an assist, and an hourslong, multiagency search involving local and federal law enforcement began, according to police.
At the press conference, Smith said an investigation is taking place as to whether protocol was followed during Haynes’ transfer to the hospital. She also stated that only one set of handcuffs were being used to secure the prisoner to the gurney.
It was around 10 p.m. on Wednesday that law enforcement concluded Haynes was not in the area and cleared the area in around GWU.
Several street closures were in place during the hours long search, including on the Key Bridge, where outbound travel lanes reopened after 6 p.m. Police officers, some with their guns drawn extended their search — aided with the assistance of helicopters — from Foggy Bottom to areas of Georgetown.
GW’s student alert system asked members of the campus to shelter in place before 9 p.m. “due to the dangerous individual around campus.”
He was not handcuffed at the time of escape, but Haynes was last seen with black handcuffs hanging from his right wrist, possibly wearing a white jumpsuit, black T-shirt and gray shorts, barefoot or in one red Yeezy-like shoe.
D.C. police released a photo of Haynes, which appears to be taken from a home surveillance camera on Thursday.
Updated picture of Haynes: https://t.co/wlYJkf7YeM pic.twitter.com/pjQIpU8bEf
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) Sept. 6, 2023
Though law enforcement believes Haynes is no longer in the area, university officials on Thursday are still advising students to use caution as they move about campus.
“It’s a little concerning, because my family is here, but other than that they said he’s gone, so I’m not really concerned anymore,” Jawan Harris told WTOP Thursday. He said his girlfriend works at the hospital.
“I was in class and everyone was getting text messages about a shelter in place,” Asia Mohammad told WTOP Wednesday. She was one of many George Washington University students who were stuck in class.
Sophia Z. was another student who said she was also told to stay in her class: “We didn’t know it was a murder suspect. I literally just got like a bunch of text messages from my mom and then we had our friends searching up on the internet and that’s how we found out.”
“I saw the cops start swarming everywhere,” said Diego Cass, who was headed back to the Metro station.
Several street closures were in place during the search, including on the Key Bridge, where outbound travel lanes reopened after 6 p.m. Police officers, some with their guns drawn extended their search — aided with the assistance of helicopters — from Foggy Bottom to areas of Georgetown.
GW’s student alert system asked members of the campus to shelter in place before 9 p.m. “due to the dangerous individual around campus.”
In a social media post published around 10 p.m., GW’s alert system said the hospital was cleared by police who said they believe Haynes is no longer in the Foggy Bottom area.
WTOP’s Kyle Cooper and Mike Murillo, who reported from Foggy Bottom, and Abigail Constantino, Ciara Wells and Jack Moore contributed to this report.
