Houston murder suspect in custody after barricading inside Chicago restaurant for hours, police say

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A murder suspect from Houston is in custody after barricading overnight inside a Chicago, Illinois, restaurant, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Law enforcement said they cornered 30-year-old Joshua Zimmerman around 8 p.m. Tuesday. He's wanted for charges out of Mississippi and Harris County.

After an hourslong standoff, the suspect walked out of the restaurant in handcuffs around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. Video from our sister station in Chicago, WLS, shows the arrest on the city's westside.

Zimmerman has been on the run since June, when he reportedly escaped a courthouse near Memphis, Tennessee.

PREVIOUS REPORT: Suspect in woman's 2023 murder in Houston escapes courthouse in Mississippi, authorities say

Joshua Zimmerman, accused of killing Keyanna Mercer in Houston in 2023, is on the run after escaping a Mississippi prison, authorities said.

He faces a murder charge for a woman's death at a Sharpstown hotel last September.

Authorities said Zimmerman was alone inside the restaurant, and there were no innocent civilians at risk.

Zimmerman was charged with murder in the death of 23-year-old Keyanna Mercer in September last year.

According to Houston police, she was shot to death in a motel room at the Red Carpet Inn on Hornwood Drive in the Gulfton area.

An investigation into Mercer's death revealed the hotel room was rented to Zimmerman and Mercer. Witnesses told police they heard screaming from the room before a gunshot was fired. Zimmerman was then seen leaving alone.

READ MORE: Mississippi police arrest man accused of killing woman at SW Houston motel

Mississippi police arrested Joshua Zimmerman, also known as Vincent Juliano, who's accused of killing a woman at a southwest Houston motel last month.

It was several days later, on Sept. 29, that Zimmerman was arrested in DeSoto County, Mississippi for separate felony charges.

The plan was to eventually extradite him back to Harris County, but on June 14 of this year, Zimmerman escaped police custody while at a court hearing. He had been on the run ever since.

Authorities did not immediately say what led them to the suspect at the restaurant. We are reaching out to the U.S. Marshal's Service for more information.

For news updates, follow Charly Edsitty on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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