Man who escaped a Virginia jail last month was captured after pulling a fire alarm on a nearby college campus, officials say

By Michelle Watson, CNN

Bruce Callahan, one of two men who escaped from a Virginia jail earlier this month, was captured after he pulled a fire alarm at a university just miles from the facility he fled, officials said.

Bruce Callahan was taken into custody “without incident” Monday morning on the campus of Longwood University, according to a release from the Prince Edward County Sheriff’s Office.

Callahan was “injured and in poor health” when he pulled an outdoor fire alarm on a residence hall around 5:30 a.m., an alert sent by the university said.

A university police officer was the first to encounter Callahan, who was then taken into custody and provided medical attention, Prince Edward County Sheriff L.A. “Tony” Epps said in the release.

Longwood University is less than three miles from the Piedmont Regional Jail, the facility from which Callahan and Alder Alfonso Marin-Sotelo were discovered missing on May 1. The two men had escaped from the jail sometime over the weekend prior, the sheriff’s office said at the time.

Marin-Sotelo, who was being held on a first-degree murder charge in connection with the August killing of a Wake County, North Carolina, sheriff’s deputy, was captured in Mexico on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Marin-Sotelo’s sister was arrested and charged in federal court with helping him escape by paying $2,500 to arrange for the getaway car, according to court documents.

Prior to his escape, Callahan was being held on federal drug and weapons charges, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a news release.

There is no indication he had been on the Longwood campus prior to him pulling the fire alarm, the school said.

Farmville is roughly 60 miles southwest of Richmond and about 60 miles north of the North Carolina border.

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CNN’s Christina Maxouris, Paradise Afshar, Amy Simonson and Dianne Gallagher contributed to this report.