FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Sirens rang out on Marietta St. in southwest Atlanta early Thursday morning.
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Several police officers and deputies searched for an inmate who escaped from the Fulton County Jail around 4:30 a.m.
Witnesses told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes they helped police capture Demetrius Burkes, who was still wearing a jail gown when police found him.
“He was barefoot, he had no shoes on,” said witness Ruth Thomas. “He asked for a cigarette.”
Burkes went to a homeless encampment on Eugenia St. near the juvenile correction center because he used to live there, according to witnesses.
That was until last week when police arrested him for theft by taking.
Nearly three hours after he disappeared, police found him near a Mechanicsville library next to the juvenile correction center.
Between the jail and where police found the inmate were six schools in the area.
“Burkes was swiftly located and is back in custody,” a spokesperson for Sheriff Pat Labat told Channel 2 Action News. “At no time was the public in danger.”
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