A convicted killer who walked away from a Mission, B.C. prison over the weekend has been arrested on Vancouver Island.
Police nabbed 48-year-old Michael Douglas Sheets on Tuesday morning after receiving a tip that he might be in the Greater Victoria area.
Officers found Sheets, who also goes by John Hala, hiding in a barn at a property in Saanich.
"Sheets was arrested without incident and Saanich Police will transfer him into the custody of the Correctional Service," Saanich Police said in a news release.
Sgt. Jereme Leslie told CTV News it didn't appear Sheets had any connection to the property.
"He was an inmate at William Head and had escaped before so he may have had some island ties," Leslie said.
Charlie Wainman witnessed the arrest. He said he woke up to unexpected noises outside his basement suite at about 5:30 a.m.
"I just saw a bunch of lights," Wainman told CTV.
"I heard police on the loudspeaker say something to the effect of, 'We see you, John. Please come out, you're under arrest.'"
Staff at the minimum-security unit of Mission Institution realized Sheets was missing during a head count Saturday evening, triggering a days-long manhunt for the killer.
He was convicted in the firebombing of a Calgary townhouse back in November 2014 that killed two young siblings and injured their mother. Sheets had been hired to torch the home as part of a love affair revenge plot.
Though Sheets’s arrest will likely be a relief to some who live in Mission and the surrounding cities, another convicted killer who escaped from the same prison in early August remains on the loose.
John Norman Mackenzie, 57, was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder.
The Correctional Service of Canada has not commented on the circumstances of Sheets's escape, but said it is investigating what happened.
"Ensuring the safety and security of institutions, staff, and public remains the highest priority in the operations of the federal correctional system," the agency said in a statement Tuesday.
Sheets will be held in a medium security facility as he undergoes a risk assessment evaluation, and officials say it's unlikely he'll be going back to minimum security.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Nafeesa Karim and Bhinder Sajan
Michael Douglas Sheets has been recaptured. pic.twitter.com/60nb9oThRq
— Correctional Service (@CSC_SCC_en) September 4, 2018