Fugitive Colton Harris-Moore has been captured in the Bahamas. The teenager, who has been on the run for two years, was apprehended by Bahamian authorities as he tried to leave an island in a stolen boat. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
The teenager known as the "Barefoot Bandit" is in custody after more than two years on the run.
As he shuffled through the crowds and camera crews, his feet in shackles, his head bowed, and wearing a bulletproof vest, 19-year-old Colton Harris-Moore asked the police to hurry.
He was taken by boat from remote Harbour Island in the Bahamas where he was captured. He sat with his head on his knees, despite taunts from his police escort.
There are cuts and bruises on his feet and legs sustained as he struggled across rough terrain where he had crash-landed his plane.
For his own protection he's not being kept in a regular jail but in a small rundown holding cell in an old police station just outside Nassau.
He's scheduled to appear in court in the next 24 hours, but there's an unconfirmed report that he may be deported back to the United States rather than facing charges in the Bahamas.
John Henry Browne, his attorney in the U.S., tells INSIDE EDITION, "Colton was only allowed one phone call yesterday, he called his aunt. I have yet to hear from him but I'm not sure he has access to the phones. Physically he was fine but he was a little depressed, obviously."
Harris-Moore was captured after a dramatic police chase, which started when he was spotted trying to leave Harbour Island in a stolen boat.
There are bullet holes in the boat where police shot out his engine. Police say he pointed a gun to his head as they closed in but he was persuaded not to kill himself.
"Colton is a very intelligent young man, he understands his rights, he has been allowed due process," said Ellison Greenslade, the Commissioner of Police of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, at a press conference.
Harris-Moore's mother Pamela Kohler said in a statement:
"I am very relieved that Colt is now safe and that no one was hurt during his capture. I miss him terribly. I hope that it will be possible for me to see him sometime soon."
Since escaping from a Seattle juvenile facility two years ago, authorities say Harris-Moore has been a one-man crime wave across eight states
He has been caught on surveillance video committing robberies and once taunted police by leaving behind his hand-drawn signature footprints.
Then last week he stole a plane and flew 1,000 miles from Indiana to Grand Abaco in the Bahamas. INSIDE EDITION discovered the wreck in a remote area of mud and scrub.
Disturbingly, Harris-Moore has become an unlikely folk hero; a ballad about him went viral on YouTube and his Facebook page has 60,000 followers.
