ICE Fugitive Caught In Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A violent prisoner escapes federal custody while being deported, and ends up in a Chicago Starbucks.
The drama began at JFK airport earlier this week but ended this afternoon in the West Loop.
CBS 2's Lauren Victory has the story.
Starbucks employees say it was a quiet arrest.
Federal agents silently swooped in as the criminal was sipping a grande Blonde Roast.
"He paid and told my barista thank you and then he sat down," says the Starbucks employee. "He looked like a businessman to me."
Instead Mohamadou Mbacke is a violent criminal who was being deported to Senegal when he escaped from immigration and customs enforcement agents at JFK Airport in New York.
ICE confirms that agents lost Mbacke when he asked to sit several rows away from them at his gate on Tuesday.
He was later seen on airport surveillance hopping in a cab.
Almost three days later Mbacke, who spent time in prison for firearms and weapons crimes, popped up at a Starbucks across the street from Union Station.
"These two men who looked very casual, they kind of approached him and that's when I knew they were undercover cops," says barista Zimbo Gessert. "Because suddenly he stands up, they kind of flash their badges and all of a sudden like seven cops from the outside come running in."
ICE officials declined to say how they located Mbacke or if the deportation officers will be disciplined.
Baristas tell CBS 2 the immigration agents from Chicago handled today's arrest professionally but didn't clue them in about what was going on.
The coffee shop employees are relieved the arrest was peaceful.