PHILADELPHIA — A task force led by federal marshals has recaptured the second of two inmates who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison earlier this month, a man who had been charged with four murders, authorities said.
Ameen Hurst, 18, was arrested again Wednesday morning in Philadelphia, according to Robert Clark, deputy supervisor for the US Marshals Service. Authorities had been working with the family since Tuesday night after they called asking for Hurst to surrender, but various deadlines for that to happen had come and gone, Clark said.
Authorities staked out several locations where Hurst was believed to be hiding. Clark said that when authorities at one of the locations saw Hurst get into a car with two family members, they arrested him. They also arrested his brother, Amir Woods, 24, who was later charged with hindering the arrest, conspiracy, escape and other charges, police said. A number for Woods could not be found Wednesday and it is unclear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
Hurst and Nasir Grant, 24, escaped from the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center on May 7 by punching a hole in a fence surrounding a playground, the Philadelphia Department of Corrections said.
Before the escape, Hurst had been arrested on four counts of murder. Grant was in custody on drug and weapons conspiracy charges. Authorities have said the inmates were housed in the same unit, but in different cells.
Grant was arrested Thursday night after members of the same fugitive task force saw him leave a North Philadelphia home dressed as a woman. He was stopped in a nearby car and arrested.
The men were missing for nearly 19 hours before officials learned they were missing. A senior city official said an «extensive» review of the prison and its operations is planned, calling it «unfortunate» that nearby residents and the city at large have not been immediately warned. “We don’t want that to happen again,” said Tumar Alexander, the city’s managing director.
Three people, including a fellow prisoner, have been charged with aiding in the escape, and authorities are trying to determine if anyone else at the prison was involved. Mayor Jim Kenney said whoever had responsibility for multiple bed checks «can’t count or could have counted and did something wrong.»
Michael Abrams and Xianni Stalling, both 21, helped the men out of the area around the prison after inmate Jose Flores-Huerta, 35, acted as a lookout to help them elude the guards, he said. on Wednesday Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore of the Philadelphia Police Department.
Flores-Huerta is one of several people charged in the September 2021 death of Isidro Cortez, 28, of Queens, New York, outside a well-known cheesesteak shop; her lawyer has said that other suspects were primarily responsible.