Inmate's failed escape attempt nets more charges

Shackled and handcuffed in a hospital room at Einstein Medical Center on Sunday afternoon, Justin Mackie saw his chance, and took it.

When one of the two correctional officers guarding the 20-year-old suspect in three killings left the room on a bathroom break about 4:20 p.m., Mackie asked the remaining officer if he could use the bathroom as well, according to a police account.

The officer removed Mackie's handcuffs - and that's when, according to police, Mackie dragged him into the bathroom, beat him bloody, and fled from the room.

Police say he punched two nurses - one was knocked unconscious - and made it to a first-floor lobby before he was captured by hospital security.

Mackie was awaiting trial on five charges - including the three killings during a nine-day period.

And, according to police reports, Mackie said he was prepared to kill on Sunday: Struggling with the correctional officer, he allegedly grabbed for his gun and told him he was going to kill him, before giving up and running for the door.

Mackie, who had been at Einstein for a minor surgical procedure, was returned to prison, where he is awaiting trial in connection with the string of slayings in 2013.

Authorities say the violence began when Mackie and a companion took a cab ride on June 15. The companion, police say, shot the cabdriver in an elbow, and Mackie went on the run.

On July 9, authorities say, he killed Carlos Barnes of North Philadelphia with the victim's own shotgun. Barnes had been trying to sell it to Mackie.

Six days later, prosecutors say, he ambushed and killed Tyrone Hayes, whom he thought was trying to shoot him.

Three days after that, authorities say, he killed a friend, Otif Wright, 21, because he believed Wright had framed his brother in a robbery.

Prosecutors at the time called the carnage "a shocking amount of violence."

Mackie was captured July 22 by FBI agents after a shootout in which he was seriously wounded, and has been in custody since. He now faces three counts of aggravated assault, one count of escape, and related charges in the hospital incident.