LIMA, Ohio — A teenager convicted of killing three students at an Ohio high school scrambled over a fence to escape a state prison with two other prisoners and was captured nearly six hours later hiding by a church early Friday, authorities said.

T.J. Lane, 19, was caught only about 100 yards from the prison by two State Highway Patrol troopers at 1:20 a.m. A second prisoner had been caught almost immediately after the Thursday night escape, and troopers apprehended the third three hours after finding Lane.

Nearly 200 miles to the east, Lane’s brief taste of freedom frightened residents in Chardon, the community outside of Cleveland where Lane fatally shot three students and wounded two others. At his sentencing hearing last year, Lane unbuttoned a dress shirt to reveal a T-shirt scrawled with the word “killer.” He wore a similar shirt during the shootings. He cursed and made an obscene gesture as the judge gave him three consecutive life sentences.

Police officers were sent late Thursday to guard the homes of the families of Lane’s victims, while school officials huddled and ultimately decided to cancel classes Friday.

“The last several hours have been very difficult as we come to grips with this situation,” Chardon schools superintendent Michael Hanlon said at a news conference early Friday after Lane was caught.