Two escaped inmates sought in the killings of two guards on a Georgia prison bus were captured after a chase and being held at gunpoint by a rural Tennessee homeowner whose vehicle they were trying to steal, authorities said.

Donnie Rowe, 43, and Ricky Dubose, 24, were apprehended Thursday in the rural community of Christiana, Tennessee, ending a multi-state manhunt that began Tuesday morning.

'True bravery is what's caused us to stand before you tonight to talk about a successful capture instead of a tragic incident,' Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn said at a news conference. 'So I'm totally grateful to everyone involved.'

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Ricky Dubose (left), 24, and Donnie Russell Rowe (right), 43, were caught on Thursday after their shocking Tuesday escape from a prison bus, in which they killed two guards

The pair had taken an elderly couple hostage before tying them up, stealing their Jeep and getting involved in a 100mph car chase with police. They crashed, fled and were captured

Earlier in the day, police in nearby Shelbyville had responded to a call about a home invasion, where a couple had been held captive, Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles said.

The suspects fled in the couple's vehicle and fired on sheriff's deputies chasing them on Interstate 24 about 50 miles southeast of Nashville, Tennessee, Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Bill Miller said. Rutherford County Sheriff Michael Fitzhugh said his deputies did not return fire and none of them was injured.

Rowe and Dubose crashed the car and bailed out, running into the woods, Miller said. They then came across a home set back on a long driveway.

Tennessee Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Miller, center, speaks during a news conference held at a truck stop Thursday, June 15

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn, center, at the briefing

The trooper said the homeowner looked outside and saw the two allegedly trying to steal his car. The man held the two at gunpoint with a neighbor he called for help until the sheriff's department could get there to arrest the fugitives.

The two were being held at the Rutherford County jail.

Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Dozier said in a news release that he was relieved the two inmates were captured and no longer a threat to the public.

'They will be brought to justice swiftly for their heinous crime against our officers,' he said, also expressing gratitude to all of the law enforcement officers who provided support and assistance in the search for the two men.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal applauded the 'tireless efforts' of law enforcement but also turned his thoughts to the families of the two officers, saying their pain remains.

'We will do everything in our power to support their loved ones, and we will not forget their sacrifice and service,' Deal said.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine said the bureau's agents will take part in processing the scene.

The two men had been on the run since early Tuesday, when they are accused of having killed Sgt. Christopher Monica and Sgt. Curtis Billue.

The rampage began (1) on state highway 16 in Georgia on Tuesday at 6:45am, when Dubose and Rowe killed their guards and carjacked a passerby. (2) At 10:30am, they ransacked a home in Madison and stole clothes. (3) Around 12 hours later, they ditched the car and store a white pickup from a quarry near Madison. They fell off the radar until 2:30pm, when they held an elderly couple hostage in their Shelbyville, Tennesee home for three hours before stealing their Jeep. They were quickly spotted and after a 100mph chase, they crashed on the I-24 (4). They fled on foot but were captured in Christiana, Tennessee, at 7pm

The pair had escaped on Tuesday from a prison bus in Georgia. They were arrested around 200 miles away in Tennessee. In-between, they jacked two cars, stole a third and burgled a house

The two inmates overpowered and disarmed the guards on a bus about 6:45 a.m. Tuesday as 33 inmates were being driven between prisons, authorities have said. One of them fatally shot both guards, and then they jumped out of the bus and carjacked a driver who happened to pull up behind them on state Highway 16 in Putnam County, southeast of Atlanta, authorities said.

The two inmates then fled in the stolen Honda Civic and drove about 25 miles north to Madison, where they ransacked a home, stealing food and clothes and leaving their prison uniforms behind around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Late Tuesday night, about 12 hours after the home burglary, the pair stole a Ford pickup truck from a rock quarry about 9 miles from the burglarized home when the trail had gone cold.

Dubose is seen left in an earlier photo, before he got his distinctive tattoos, and right afterward. Both men were said to be highly dangerous

The FBI announced a tip line and said pictures of the men and information about a $130,000 reward would appear on billboards in multiple states. TBI's Gwyn said Thursday he wasn't sure who would collect the reward.

One of the murdered guards was Christopher Monica (pictured), who had been a prison guard since 2009. He had been working an extra shift to pay for his ill wife

Authorities warned that the men, who had escaped with the guards' 9 mm pistols, were considered very dangerous. Gwyn said investigators believe both weapons have been found at the site where the men crashed the vehicle.

Monica and Billue were transfer sergeants at Baldwin State Prison. Monica had been with the Georgia Department of Corrections since October 2009 and Billue since July 2007.

Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said the escaped inmates had been inside a secured area of the bus. He said he didn't know how they got through the locked cage to overpower the guards.

Protocol is to have two armed corrections officers on the bus, but the officers don't wear bullet-proof vests during transfers, Dozier said.

Both escapees were serving sentences for armed robbery and other crimes. The Department of Corrections said Rowe, 43, had been serving life without parole since 2002, and Dubose, 24, began a 20-year sentence in 2015.

If convicted of capital murder for the deaths of the guards, they could now face the death penalty.