Colton Harris-Moore arrives in Nassau on Sunday after his arrest. (Felipe Major/Associated Press)

A teenager who became a folk hero while eluding police both in the U.S. and in B.C. for two years was captured in the Bahamas on Sunday during a high-speed boat chase.

Colton Harris-Moore, 19, was dubbed the Barefoot Bandit because he reportedly often went shoeless during his suspected crime sprees and left chalk footprints as a calling card.

Harris-Moore is accused of stealing everything from luxury cars to powerboats and even five small planes after teaching himself to fly.

RCMP in B.C. believe Harris-Moore might be responsible for a break-in at a small airport in Creston, B.C., in September 2009, said Cpl. Dan Moskaluk.

"A couple of the airplanes were moved around in the hangar, and there was attempts to get into the planes to either damage them or possibly steal them," Moskaluk told CBC News.

"Prior to the break-in occurring … there was a vehicle that was stolen out of the Lower Mainland that was recovered just outside of Creston, so we believe the two may be linked."

RCMP later found some items stolen from the Creston break-in — including a hand gun — at a campsite in Idaho that was part of the investigation into Harris-Moore.

The RCMP say they will be working with U.S. investigators to gather more evidence and maybe recommend charges against the teen, who has been branded a modern-day Billy the Kid by his thousands of Facebook fans.

Captured after boat chase in Bahamas

For two years, Harris-Moore managed to stay a step ahead of the law, stealing cars, powerboats and even airplanes, police say, while building a reputation as a 21st-century folk hero,

A July 2009 self-portrait of Colton Harris-Moore provided by the sheriff's office of Island County, Wash. (Associated Press)

But in the end it might have been his celebrity status that was his downfall after witnesses on the Bahamian island of Eleuthera recognized the 19-year-old.

Bahamas Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade said at a news conference in Nassau that shots were fired during a boat chase but did not say who fired them. He also said Harris-Moore was carrying a handgun that he tried to throw away.

Another senior police official, however, said police fired to disable the motor on the suspect's stolen boat and that Harris-Moore threw his gun in the water.

Police flew Harris-Moore in shackles to Nassau. True to his nickname, the teen, his hair closely shorn, was shoeless as he walked off the plane wearing short camouflage cargo pants, a short-sleeved shirt and a bulletproof vest.

Harris-Moore is blamed for several thefts in the Bahamas in the week since allegedly crash-landing a stolen plane there, and Bahamian authorities said he will be prosecuted for those crimes before the start of any U.S. extradition proceedings.

On the run for two years

The six-foot five-inch tall Harris-Moore had been on the run since escaping from a Washington state halfway house in 2008. He is accused of breaking into dozens of homes and committing burglaries across Washington, Idaho and British Columbia.

He is also suspected of stealing at least five planes — including the aircraft he allegedly lifted in Indiana and flew more than 1,600 kilometres to the Bahamas, despite a lack of formal flight training.

In this photo provided by the Islands' Sounder newspaper, chalk drawings of bare feet are shown Feb. 11, 2010, on the floor of the Homegrown Market on Orcas Island, Wash., after the store was broken into overnight. (Meredith Griffith/Islands' Sounder/Associated Press)

Some of his alleged actions appeared intended to taunt police. In February, someone who broke into a grocery store in Washington's San Juan Islands drew cartoonish, chalk-outline feet all over the floor.

Through it all, his ranks of supporters grew. Some of his more than 60,000 Facebook fans posted disappointed messages Sunday while others promoted T-shirts and tote bags with the words "Free Colton!" and "Let Colton Fly!"

Even someone in the Bahamas had mixed feelings about his arrest.

"I feel like it would have been good if he got away because he never hurt anybody, but then, he was running from the law," said Ruthie Key, who owns a market on Great Abaco Island and let Harris-Moore use her wireless internet connection on July 5.

"He seemed very innocent when I spoke with him at the store. I don't think he'd hurt anybody."

Crash landed on Abaco island

Island police had been searching for the teen since he allegedly crash-landed the plane on Abaco, where he was blamed for at least seven burglaries. The search expanded to Eleuthera after police there recovered a 13-metre powerboat reported stolen from Abaco.

Police said several people reported seeing the teenager Wednesday night in the waters between Eleuthera and Harbour Island, a nearby tourist destination known for its art galleries, but did not know about the Barefoot Bandit until after discovering a series of break-ins the next day.

Harris-Moore's mistake was to return to the same area.

James Major, who rents cars on Eleuthera opposite Harbour Island, said a witness on his side of the channel reported a sighting of Harris-Moore to police early Sunday. He said locals had been on the lookout since the fugitive was blamed for trying to steal four boats and breaking into two buildings at the ferry landing.

"He might have been dangerous to the public," Major said. "Everybody is glad he was caught."

Greenslade said the high-speed chase began around 2 a.m. Sunday after police received tips from members of the public that Harris-Moore was on Harbour Island.

The chase ended in the waters off the Romora Bay Resort and Marina on Harbour Island, where security director Kenneth Strachan reported seeing a young man running through the bush barefoot with a handgun, according to Anne Ward, who manages the property.

"When Kenny spotted him, he had a knapsack over his shoulder and a gun, and he was yelling, 'They're going to kill me. They're going to kill me.' He was running up the dock," Ward said.

Ward said the fugitive ran back to the water and stole another boat but ran aground in the shallows, where police shot out his engine.

"At one point, the boy threw his computer in the water and put a gun to his head," Ward said. " He was going to kill himself. Police talked him out of it."

Police declined to comment on whether Ward's account was accurate.

Grew up near Seattle

Harris-Moore is a skilled outdoorsman who honed his abilities growing up in the woods of Camano Island in Puget Sound about 50 kilometres north of Seattle.

Harris-Moore's mother, Pam Kohler, has said that he had a troubled childhood. His first conviction, for possession of stolen property, came at age 12. Within a few months of turning 13, he had three more.

Kohler has defended her son, saying the allegations against him are exaggerated. She previously told the Associated Press that she hoped he would flee to a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the United States.

Reached early Sunday at her Camano home, Kohler said she'd heard the news about the arrest but had no comment.

Victims of the crimes Harris-Moore is accused of were happy to see him in custody.

"These people that support him, they've never been violated by having him break into their homes or businesses," said Joni Fowler, manager of a café on Orcas Island north of Seattle where Harris-Moore is accused of taking as much as $1,500.

Steven Dean, assistant special agent in charge for FBI's Seattle office, said Harris-Moore's capture was bound to happen.

"I think if you go to a small island and stick out like a sore thumb" that capture is almost inevitable, he said.

Asked about the teen's status as a folk hero, Dean said, "I think it's ridiculous. I think that it's sad."

Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle, said that once Harris-Moore faces charges in the Bahamas, her office will seek to extradite him to Washington state and co-ordinate with local jurisdictions about how his case would proceed.

"There are, obviously, many jurisdictions that would like to prosecute him," she said.

Shauna Snyder, a private investigator on Whidbey Island near Camano, said she set up a legal defence fund for Harris-Moore at the request of his mother. She said that although she didn't know how much had been raised so far, the fund has been receiving donations.

With files from CBC News