Escaped Pennsylvania inmate Danelo Cavalcante is in custody, Pennsylvania State Police announced, CNN reports.
“This is a message from Pennsylvania State Police. The search for Danelo Cavalcante is over. The subject is now in custody,” a reverse 911 call sent to area residents said.
State police are planning to hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m.
The capture of Escaped Pennsylvania inmate Danelo Cavalcante ends a two-week manhunt for the escaped killer, which yesterday shifted to South Coventry Township in Chester County as police announced Cavalcante, 34, was now armed.
Schools were closed and residents were put on alert as police searched for the fugitive in the area about 20 miles north of the prison he broke out of two weeks ago.
Escaped Pennsylvania inmate Danelo Cavalcante, had turned up shirtless at a homeowner’s garage Monday night, ran in and grabbed a .22-caliber rifle, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said in a Tuesday news conference.
The homeowner fired his pistol at Cavalcante as he fled, but there is no reason to believe the fugitive was injured, Bivens said.
“We consider him desperate. We consider him dangerous,” he said. “I would suspect that he’s desperate enough to use that weapon.”
The interaction drew a massive police response to South Coventry Township, where residents received late-night reverse 911 calls to lock their doors and stay inside as police warned that Cavalcante was armed.
About 500 law enforcement officers – including members of the Pennsylvania State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and US Marshals – have set up a perimeter in the wooded area where they are now searching for the fugitive.
“It will take a long time to clear that entire area,” Bivens said, warning that, “No perimeter is ever 100% impenetrable.”
Police believe Cavalcante knows where he is, and has been in this area before, according to Bivens.
Cavalcante’s latest sighting has upended lives in South Coventry Township, which has a population of just over 2,600. The Owen J. Roberts School District closed Tuesday, while several other area districts moved outdoor activities indoors.
Local pizza shop owner Giuseppe Gatto told CNN affiliate WPVI he was forced to close his business for the day after Route 100 was partially shut down to the public.
“Talking to my customers the last couple days, we’re afraid. They’re afraid. I’m afraid. He could be at somebody’s house. He could be at somebody’s business,” Gatto told the station. “I hope they catch this guy.”
Emma de Long, who owns a farm near the garage where the rifle was stolen from, told WPVI she quickly locked up and left when she learned Cavalcante was armed.
“Immediately when I found out he was armed and dangerous in our area, we called off work,” de Long said, also expressing concern over the search posing difficulties for local farmers’ harvests.
Cavalcante escaped from Chester County Prison, in a rural area some 30 miles west of Philadelphia, by “crab-walking” up to the roof on August 31 following his conviction last month of first-degree murder for the killing of his former girlfriend, 33-year-old Deborah Brandão.
Since then, he’s been sighted several times in Chester County. During his two weeks on the run, Cavalcante has been spotted inside homes, managed to slip through a police search perimeter, stolen a van, changed his appearance, showed up at the doorsteps of people he knew years ago, and now, stolen a firearm.
Cavalcante’s mother told The New York Times she believes her son’s ability to survive outdoors for so long stems from his difficult upbringing in Brazil.
Last week, police used helicopters and patrol cars to broadcast a message in Portuguese from Cavalcante’s mother, urging him to surrender.
“His training was his suffering,” his mother told the Times on Tuesday. “It was going to sleep hungry, it was waking up as I wondered what to feed them.”
She told the Times she believes her son would be better off dying now than going back to prison.
“If it’s to go to a place to suffer and die in that place, it’s better to die soon,” she said. “You don’t have to suffer so much, just to die later.”
Authorities have considered that a confrontation with Cavalcante could turn violent.
“It’s a possibility that he’ll attack the police to try to get away. It’s a possibility he would attack a civilian. It’s a possibility it would be a suicide by cop. Any of those scenarios are possibilities. Our people are trained to deal with them,” Bivens said Tuesday.
As the search drags on, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said authorities believe they have the fugitive contained in a specific area.
“As for the individual himself this is a moment where you got to realize the gig is almost up and you’d be best to turn yourself in and that is what I would urge him to do at this time,” he said.