A capital murder suspect who stole a deputy's duty weapon and escaped from a Dallas hospital Tuesday night was apprehended without incident hours later.
Franklin B. Davis, 30, escaped during a Parkland Hospital visit, the Dallas County Sheriff's Office said. He was taken into custody later Tuesday night after a brief standoff.
On Wednesday, Sheriff Lupe Valdez said a failure to follow procedures, not an issue of manpower, let to Davis' escape.
"Standard procedure requires for all inmates to be escorted at all times while on medical visits to Parkland," she said. "Procedures were not totally followed; an error was made."
Valdez said it would not have mattered how many guards were watching Davis because policies were not followed.
The deputy was not injured but is struggling with what happened, she said.
Valdez said there are about 4,200 transports between Lew Sterrett Justice Center and Parkland Hospital per year.
Valdez said the incident is under investigation. The deputy is still at work.
Dallas police and Dallas County deputies searched the neighborhoods near the hospital for Davis and located him near Harry Hines Boulevard and Reagan Street.
Davis then barricaded himself inside a van in the parking lot of the old Telemundo building. Davis surrendered to police at about 10:45 p.m. after a standoff of a little longer than one hour.
No one was injured, and no shots were fired.
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The standoff ended so quickly because police realized that Davis was not armed ,the sheriff's office said.
Authorities had recovered the gun, so officers went in to arrest him. Davis dropped the gun he took from the deputy at the hospital somewhere along Wycliff Avenue while fleeing.
He is charged in the September slaying of a 16-year-old Carrollton girl that he was accused of sexually assaulting.
Police said they believe Shania Gray was killed to prevent her from testifying against Davis, who was charged with four counts of sexual assault.
Carrollton police have said that Davis confessed to killing Gray.
According to an affidavit, Davis picked Gray up from school and drove her a trail head near Valley View Lane and Interstate 635, where he killed her. He told investigators that he posed as someone else and won the girl's trust with a fake social media profile and a prepaid phone.
NBC 5's Stefan Gorman and Ray Villeda contributed to this report.
