PHILADELPHIA — A teenager awaiting trial in a homicide case who escaped from a Philadelphia hospital last week was captured Sunday, police said.
Shane Pryor was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service, said Sgt. Eric Gripp of the Philadelphia Police Department.
Deputies will turn the 17-year-old over to police homicide detectives, Gripp said.
“A special thank you to the media and public for sharing their advice and information,” Gripp said in a statement. “There is no additional information available at this moment.”
Pryor was 14 years old when he was charged with a homicide in October 2020 and has been in a juvenile facility since. He is charged with murder, conspiracy and firearms offences.
Pryor’s attorney, Paul DiMaio, has said his client has always maintained his innocence. He noted that a judge recently denied a request to send Pryor’s case back to juvenile court, which may have caused Pryor to lose hope.
Pryor’s mother had urged her son to turn himself in. She said the teen fled custody because he turns 18 in two weeks, which exposed him to being transferred to an adult prison.
Authorities said Pryor fled Wednesday from the entrance to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he had been taken with a hand injury.
Less than an hour after he fled on foot, the teen was seen on video getting into a car that drove him away, authorities said. The driver, Michael Diggs, 18, was later arrested. Diggs is charged with hindering apprehension, escape, criminal conspiracy and use of a communication facility, city police announced Friday. The city’s public defender’s office said Friday that it had not been assigned to the case.
Security video shows Pryor entering and exiting some buildings in the area after his escape, Deputy Commissioner of Investigation Frank Vanore said. He was also seen talking to people, “asking for a phone … anything he could do to leave the area,” Vanore said.
Investigators believe he called Diggs, who they said then picked him up in a car. Police stopped the vehicle in the city Wednesday night, Vanore said, but Pryor was not in the car. Police questioned Diggs and another person who was in the vehicle, but no charges were filed against the other person.