Fugitive escapes custody at Sea-Tac Airport, flees on light rail

Authorities are searching for a 20-year-old man who escaped custody at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Monday evening, marking the third such incident at the airport in recent months.

According to the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC), John Nino fled from two DOC officers around 8 pm while on the fourth floor of the airport garage. Nino reportedly ran toward the Sea-Tac light rail station, crossing the pedestrian bridge on the station’s east side toward International Boulevard before disappearing across nearby railroad tracks in the direction of Highway 99.

Nino, who stands 6'2" and weighs 154 pounds, was last seen wearing a red coat and gray sweatpants. He was on community supervision for second-degree robbery and had recently been transported back to Washington after being arrested in New Mexico. The DOC urges the public not to approach him and to call 911 with any sightings.

This incident follows two other high-profile escapes at Sea-Tac in recent months.

In May, convicted felon Sedric Stevenson was caught on surveillance video running from two bounty hunters at Sea-Tac, still in shackles, before boarding the light rail. He was arrested weeks later in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood.

According to a criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Seattle and obtained by KOMO News, Gerson Enrique Castaneda Piche, a man from El Salvador, fled from ICE agents on July 15 while being taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Tacoma. The escape occurred when Castaneda reportedly jumped out of the back seat of a car near the airport’s rental car facility. Court documents say Castaneda had been in ICE custody following a domestic violence conviction in California earlier this year and was being transported to NWIPC to await immigration removal proceedings, during which he claimed he would face persecution or torture if returned to El Salvador.

While being escorted by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division, Castaneda allegedly opened the vehicle door and fled. Agents pursued him but were initially unable to locate him. ICE then contacted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which launched a search operation around the airport, establishing a two-mile perimeter. After several hours, Castaneda was found near the airport’s rideshare pickup area around 3 am. He was subsequently taken into custody without further incident and booked at NWIPC.

Castaneda is now facing one federal charge of escape from custody.

The incident came amid a sharp increase in immigration enforcement activity in Washington state. ICE made at least 275 arrests in Washington in June, more than double the monthly totals recorded earlier in the year. Nationally, ICE averaged 1,224 daily arrests in June, though that number dropped to approximately 990 per day during the first 26 days of July, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Deportations increased in July, with ICE removing an average of 84 more individuals per day than in June. On Tuesday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) published a list of jurisdictions identified as obstructing federal immigration enforcement. Both Seattle and Washington state were named.

“Sanctuary policies impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a statement. “The Department of Justice will continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.”