A convicted murderer who escaped prison by beating a guard unconscious and stealing his uniform, keys and SUV has been captured in Chicago, ending a nearly three-day manhunt. Kamron Taylor was caught in South Side, Chicago, with a loaded gun on Friday night after police received a tip off describing a man with the name 'Gertrude' tattooed to his neck. Officers chased Taylor three blocks before he was apprehended. He is being held on weapons charges until he can be turned over to the Kankakee County Sheriff's Office, Chicago police said. Scroll down for video . Recaptured: Kamron Taylor is in custody after breaking free from jail by beating a guard unconscious and fleeing in his uniform. He had been waiting to be sentenced after a judge convicted him of murder . Fears: It was feared Taylor planned to hunt down the family of his victim, Nelson Williams Jr. In February, he shouted at the family, 'I'm going to get you mother*******'  (pictured) Disguised: He was captured on a surveillance camera fleeing the Kankakee jail dressed in a guard's uniform . 'I think I can speak for ... everyone who's been involved: tired, I guess is the word,' Kankakee County Sheriff Timothy Bukowski told reporters Saturday in summing up the frenzied search. Taylor had been awaiting sentencing at Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee, Illinois, for the murder of Nelson Williams Jr. But on Tuesday he attacked a guard and fled in disguise. It came just days after he shouted at the victim's family in court: 'I'm going to get you mother*******.' 'As I go home every night, I figure he might ambush me like he did my son,' the victim's father, Nelson Williams Sr, told WLS-TV on Thursday. Taylor, who has a history of escape attempts, fled from the Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee at about 3am Wednesday. He somehow escaped from his cell, hid inside the facility, then beat and choked the guard who was making rounds, said Kankakee County Sheriff Timothy Bukowski. Escaped: The 23-year-old Taylor was awaiting sentencing for the June 2013 murder of Nelson Williams Jr, 21 (right), when authorities say he beat a guard unconscious, took his keys and uniform and sped off in his SUV . Taylor, a 23-year-old from Kankakee, is considered armed and dangerous, the sheriff said. He was convicted of first-degree murder in February in the June 2013 death of Nelson Williams Jr, 21, and faces a sentence of 45 years to life in prison. Sheriff's officials believe someone may be helping Taylor hide. They warned the public that harboring a fugitive is a criminal offense that will be prosecuted. A $7,500 reward is now being offered for information leading to Taylor's arrest. Twenty-eight officers have fanned out across the county, searching dozens of residences with the help of dogs and surveillance helicopters above. Analysts from the Illinois State Police have been mapping out lists of Taylor's relatives and associates, examining his past phone conversations and jail visitation records to help lead investigators to probable locations where the fugitive might be hiding out. As of Friday morning, officers armed with rifles have searched about 50 home in eastern Illinois . Bukowski said investigators were also considering the possibility that Taylor could have fled elsewhere. Besides hunting him down, investigators were eager to determine how Taylor got free in what was the first successful escape from the decade-old lockup housing about 450 detainees. 'The speculation on my part is somebody didn't do their job properly,' Bukowski said. After getting free of his two-man cell in a lockdown unit, where he has been awaiting sentencing, Taylor hid out and attacked the guard, a military veteran with 10 years of correctional experience, Bukowski said. By wearing the guard's uniform, Taylor was able to fool other guards in a master control room who opened three sets of doors for him after visual verification by surveillance video, Bukowski said. Wanted: A $1,000 reward is being offered by police for any information that leads to Taylor's capture . Dangerous: A woman rushes to her car in Kankakee, Ill., Wednesday, April 1, 2015, after being told by police that officers were searching in the area for prison escapee Kamron T. Taylor . Following the trail: Police approach a vehicle with guns drawn that convicted murderer Kamron T. Taylor stole during his escape . Once outside, the suspect repeatedly pressed the guard's key fob to locate his Chevrolet Equinox in a parking lot and drive away. Authorities didn't learn of the escape until about 30 minutes later, when jail staff found the wounded officer, who is hospitalized in intensive care with head wounds. 'He was in and out of consciousness, unable to understand the questions that were given to him,' Bukowski said of the guard at a news conference. A few hours after sunrise, officers found the abandoned SUV in a residential area of Kankakee and approached the vehicle with their guns drawn. But Taylor was nowhere to be found and it wasn't clear whether he fled on foot or someone picked him up in another vehicle, the sheriff said. Safe and well: Authorities say they've found a 15-year-old girl, Savannah Bell, who they had thought to be in the company of convicted murderer who escaped from jail. At one point Wednesday, authorities issued an alert for a 15-year-old girl, Savannah Bell, who they believed was with Taylor. Illinois State Police later announced the girl had been found, but did not say where or how officials found her or whether she had been with Taylor. Jail staffing levels and procedures will be re-examined, but Bukowski said Taylor's history of violence and previous escape attempts didn't necessarily single him out for stricter security measures. 'It raises an alert, I guess,' he said. 'But you figure the people that are locked up in our facility aren't altar boys and you take certain precautions for all of them. And you can't become complacent with anybody ... especially a murderer.' Bukowski told reporters that the detention center has lost between 15 and 20 per cent of its staff, forcing guards to work extra hours in a change that he said did not go unnoticed by the 450 inmates. Asked whether he thought staffing at the jail was adequate, Bukowski told reporters he would like to see the levels that pre-dated the budget cuts, acknowledging that guards working overtime 'get tired and they start to make mistakes.' 'The inmates could see them working a double shift and see that they were tired,' he said. 'So all those factors contribute to what's going on.' He said budget cuts also got in the way of planned security enhancements, but he refused to go into specifics on that or precise staffing numbers, saying 'the inmates already know too much.' During his trial in February, Taylor tried to escape from the courthouse minutes after hearing the guilty verdict. Several sheriff's deputies and bailiffs wrestled him to the ground, and Taylor shouted expletives at the gallery as they led him away, according to a report in The (Kankakee) Daily Journal. He also escaped briefly after his arrest in 2013 but was detained several blocks away, the newspaper reported at the time. Taylor was found guilty of the June 2013 shooting death of 21-year-old Nelson Williams Jr. during a botched robbery at Williams' home in Kankakee. Online court records show his sentencing is scheduled for May 11.
Kamron Taylor was waiting to be sentenced for the 2013 murder of Nelson Williams Jr, 21 . Recaptured on Friday with loaded gun in Chicago after police tip-off . He fled Illinois prison on Wednesday after being guard unconscious . Was seen on CCTV wearing guard's uniform and driving his SUV . Fears he was hunting down victims family after shouting threat in court . He is now in custody on weapons charges .