By Khalida Sarwari and Melissa McRobbie
An armed jail inmate who prompted a lengthy manhunt in a Santa Cruz neighborhood after escaping custody at nearby Dominican Hospital late this morning has been captured, authorities said.
The inmate, Maurice Ainsworth, was taken into custody at about 4:30 p.m., Santa Cruz County sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Campos said.
He had been in jail awaiting jury trial on Jan. 10, 2011, for charges stemming from a kidnapping and home invasion robbery, Assistant District Attorney Steve Drottar said.
Ainsworth, a 24-year-old man who stands 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 260 pounds, escaped from custody at about 11:30 a.m. Campos said the inmate had just undergone an MRI and a female deputy was putting shackles on his feet when he punched her.
The deputy fought back and the struggle continued as Ainsworth tried to leave the hospital, Campos said. Outside, the deputy was bitten by Ainsworth and she tried to use her Taser gun on him but he grabbed it from her and Tased her instead, Campos said.
He then grabbed her service weapon, a .40-caliber handgun, and fired at a female bystander before fleeing, Campos said. The bystander was not hit.
Ainsworth, who was dressed in a yellow jail jumpsuit, then fled into a nearby neighborhood, ending up in the 100 block of English Drive, a street that runs along a ravine.
He was taken into custody at a home in that block by a sheriff’s SWAT team, Campos said. Ainsworth was alone in the home at that time and no other injuries were reported, he said.
Alan Erece, who lives in that block, said he was at home on the Internet earlier today when he received a recorded message from police alerting residents of the situation and notifying them that two schools were locked down.
A short time later, he looked outside and saw two police officers.
“They were huddled next to my truck with their automatic rifles out,” he said.
“It was like the movies, you know?” he said. “Kind of surreal.”
At one point, Erece saw his neighbors, a man and a woman, come running down the street with their dog, he said.
“I saw them, they were in our front yard,” Erece said. “They said there was a criminal in their house with a gun.”
Shortly after 3 p.m., Erece said a group of reporters was camped out on his front lawn, and police were down the street “huddled up” around their cars with their guns drawn, he said.
Harbor High School and DeLaveaga Elementary School and a nearby day care were put into lockdown as a precaution.
Teri Carpenter, a resident of Fairland Way, near English Drive, said her husband went for a bike ride earlier today and wasn’t able to get home because of all the police activity.
She said she had received an automated message from police warning residents to shut doors and windows and stay inside.
Carpenter’s husband Glenn was riding on English Drive when he saw “about 30 cops with guns and rifles.”
Carpenter also said he saw about 10 SWAT members come out of a “tank-type” vehicle.
The Carpenters live on Fairland Way, just west of English Drive.
A number of law enforcement agencies responded, including Watsonville police, a sheriff’s SWAT team and two California Highway Patrol helicopters.
While the search was under way, Dominican Hospital was on a “modified shelter-in-place” status, hospital officials said. All entrances to the hospital were guarded and blocked, and patients were escorted in and out by security officers.
The sheriff’s deputy who was injured was listed in fair condition this afternoon, according to the hospital.
At about 2:30 p.m., the nearby Secret Garden Too preschool was evacuated. All of the children were taken to the hospital’s Education Building where their parents picked them up, hospital officials said.