Knife-wielding Texas inmate captured after escape, attempted carjacking

Police arrested a Texas inmate-turned-fugitive armed with a knife early Friday after he escaped from a Houston court appearance.

Joshua Nigel Thomas Sanders, 35, fled around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, before holding a female prosecutor’s office employee against her will and attempting to take her car, officials said.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office in Texas said in a statement on X that Sanders, 35, was captured at a property in Houston by the Violent Offender Fugitive Task Force.

Sanders resisted arrest and was tasered. He is currently being treated at a local hospital due to the “use of force incident” during his arrest, Saul Suarez, major in the Harris County Sheriff’s Office’s Criminal Investigation Bureau, said during a press conference Friday morning.

Once he is examined well enough by doctors, he will be returned to the Harris County Jail.

Since his rearrest, Sanders has been charged with aggravated robbery, attempted carjacking and escape.

Police also arrested two other unidentified suspects on charges of hindering apprehension. Both are in custody and have been described by Suarez as “criminal associates” of the Sanders.

Suarez said, “Around 3 a.m. this morning our search ended when we finally located the suspect around the 1400 block of Force Street (in Houston).”

He also thanked the public for the large number of tips lawmakers received following news of Sanders’ escape.

Deputy Chief Phillip Bosquez said during a news conference Thursday that Sanders managed to escape while returning from court.

“He approached a woman during this escape, once out on the street, and he jumped in her car. She destroyed that car in just a few meters,” he said.

Sanders got out of the disabled car and ran down the street, and that was the last time he was seen on camera, Bosquez said.

The woman who was held at knifepoint was later released unharmed, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said.

“She was obviously shaken, but she wasn’t hurt,” Bosquez said. The woman was leaving work in the building when the incident occurred.

Sanders, described as a transient, was in custody on three counts of burglary and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, Bosquez said.

“We truly believe we’re going to put it on the ground,” he said. The sheriff’s office asked for the public’s help in searching for him.

Investigators believe Sanders had a knife during the escape, but Bosquez did not say where it might have come from. “Anywhere once he gets out of prison,” he said.

An investigation into the circumstances of the escape is underway.