Man who escaped Hennepin County courthouse during trial is in custody

The man who escaped a Hennepin County courtroom Thursday afternoon while on trial for attempted murder has been apprehended, Minneapolis police said Friday morning.

Michael David Henderson was arrested by Minneapolis police officers without incident around 7 a.m. in the 2400 block of Garfield Avenue South, according to John Elder, a spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office said it will offer more details about his arrest soon.

Henderson had sat through his Minneapolis trial for attempted murder but just couldn't stick around to hear the verdict.

"As it was being read, that's when he bolted," said Jennifer Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

"He ran and he fought with deputies on the way out of the door and was able to get away."

It was about 3:15 p.m., she said, when Henderson fled from a Hennepin County courtroom, down a stairwell and right out the Government Center building with deputies in pursuit.

The search continued into the evening, with Hennepin County Medical Center locked down briefly after a possible sighting, which turned out to be a false alarm.

It had been a routine case up until the verdict on Thursday.

Henderson, 25, of Richfield, was found guilty of robbing a Sam's Club on American Boulevard in Bloomington of about $10,000 last March — and pointing a pistol at employees as he left. He was a former employee of the store.

Police had chased him on foot from the store in that heist, and as he fled, Henderson tried to carjack multiple cars at gunpoint, without luck, before he was caught. He faced five felony counts, including two counts of second-degree attempted murder and two counts of armed robbery, when he went to trial this week.

No information was available Thursday night on how many counts he was convicted of, beyond attempted murder.

Meanwhile, though Henderson was long gone, the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center remained on lockdown Thursday evening.

"We have every law enforcement agency in the metro area looking for him," Johnson said after e-mailing photos of Henderson to local news outlets.

Henderson is described as 5 feet 7, 154 pounds, with short dark hair and long sideburns. He was wearing a maroon T-shirt, black dress pants and black dress shoes. A mug shot from his arrest after the Sam's Club robbery shows him with longer hair. His address then was in the 2300 block of Harriet Avenue S.

The Sheriff's Office on Thursday night announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to Henderson's arrest and conviction.

Joy Powell • 612-673-7750