A prisoner who overpowered a guard at a Virginia hospital before escaping custody has been caught in Washington D.C. following an eight-hour manhunt. Wossen Assaye, 42, allegedly stole two cars in Virginia before he was recognized by a passerby and apprehended getting off a Metrobus  in southeast D.C.  at 11.30am on Tuesday. He was wearing a hospital gown under street clothes and still had on an ankle chain when he was taken into custody without incident, a source told WUSA9. Assaye had escaped the Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church at 3am. He had been receiving treatment for a broken nose at the hospital after trying to hang himself in his Alexandria City Jail cell last week following his arrest for a series of of bank robberies on March 20. Scroll down for video . Found: Wossen Assaye, left, overpowered a guard at Inova Fairfax Hospital on Tuesday and a massive search was launched. He was tracked down in Washington D.C. about eight hours after his escape . Police had hired a private security company to guard the shackled 42-year-old while he was at the hospital,  but he managed to overpower a female guard while a male guard went to the restroom. During a scuffle, one shot was fired but it is not clear who pulled the trigger. No one was hurt. The hospital was put on lockdown as hundreds of officers searched for him. But the lockdown was lifted after a woman reported being carjacked several miles away around 7am. It emerged that Assaye had fled from the hospital to a nearby residential neighborhood and had broken into the trunk of her car, police said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. When she got in the car and started driving, Assaye kicked through the back seat and forced her out of the vehicle. Terrified, she crashed the car into a nearby home and got out. The man, who took off in the vehicle, was wearing a hospital gown, she told police after fleeing to a nearby gas station for help. Her car - a 2002 Toyota Camry - was later found on a street nearby with the female guard's stolen firearm inside, police said. Assaye then allegedly stole a second vehicle, a dark gray Hyundai Elantra with Virginia plate XTU-5024, which authorities are still trying to locate. Scene: Assaye had been at Inova Fairfax hospital (pictured) early on Tuesday for treatment after harming himself while in jail. He had been arrested on March 20 in connection with a series of bank robberies . Hunt: A Virginia State Police officer hunts for the accused bank robber in Fairfax after his escape . Dramatic: An officer from the U.S. Marshals fugitive task force hunts for Assaye on Tuesday morning . Crash: After carjacking a vehicle, Assaye allegedly drove across this resident's lawn on Cindy Lane in Annandale - near to the hospital - and smashed into this parked car, its owners said . Police said he also changed into regular street clothes - a dark colored jacket and blue jeans. As they searched for him, Fairfax Police called Assaye 'armed and dangerous'. They initially said he may be with his girlfriend and released her photo early  but later determined that was not the case. But when he reached Washington D.C., he was seen by a civilian who recognized him from media coverage and called authorities. Assaye was then apprehended. Police released this image of his girlfriend and said they may have been together - but they were not . Authorities said they continue to investigate how he managed to get out of his shackles. Assaye had been arrested on March 20 charged with a robbery at Apple Federal Credit Union in Alexandria. But in a court document, an FBI agent suggests Assaye is responsible for a string of 12 bank robberies in northern Virginia over the last year and a half. In court documents about the robberies, the FBI agent said the robber seen in surveillance photographs and video recordings is 'physically similar' in the dozen robberies and the one at the Apple Federal Credit Union. In all, the banks were robbed of approximately $32,000. In most cases, the agent said the robber entered the bank with a cellphone to his ear, demanded money and fled with cash on a bicycle. Following his March 20 arrest, Assaye was booked into the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center in Alexandria and remained there until he tried to take his life on Friday. Alexandria deputy sheriffs maintained custody of Assaye for the first 24 hours before turning him over to security officers contracted by the U.S. Marshals, Alexandria Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Amy Bertsch said. Following his escape, police locked down the hospital and closed nearby roads to search for him and asked people in the area to call police with information about anything suspicious. The lockdown at the hospital, which is  10 miles southwest of Washington D.C., was lifted at 8am. Caught: Assaye, 42, has a long rap sheet and is now accused of robbing 12 banks of $32,000 . Armed: A Virginia State Police officer is pictured hunting for the accused bank robber before he was caught . Task force: Virginia State Police, U.S. Marshals and FBI agents searched neighborhoods after his escape . Search: Fairfax County Police stand guard outside the hospital as the manhunt got underway . Schools in the area are on spring break. Kent Knoff, a worker at a nearby Exxon, told NBC that police had swarmed the area. 'There are police cars everywhere,' he said. 'We've been having the door locked and got a message from police to stay inside.' Assaye has an 'extensive criminal record' and 'history of violence,' indicating a 'serious risk to the community', according to a 2012 Virginia Parole Board document seen by NBC. Records show he was convicted for snatching a purse in 1994 and given a recommended 12-month jail sentence and was accused of breaking and entering in 1998, NBC reported. His Facebook page says he lives in Arlington and studied at George Mason University in Fairfax.
Wossen Assaye has been caught  on a Washington D.C. street nine hours after he escaped custody and sparked a manhunt early on Tuesday . Assaye, who is a suspect in multiple bank robberies, overpowered an armed guard at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church around 3am . He took the guard's gun and fled wearing a light blue hospital gown . The hospital was placed on lockdown until a woman several miles away reported being carjacked by a man in a hospital gown . He later dumped her car and stole a second vehicle . He was caught in D.C. after a passerby recognized him and called police . Authorities say he has stolen $32,000 over a dozen robberies .