The inmate who escaped from an Idaho prison and his suspected accomplice who shot corrections officers in Boise and set off a manhunt were taken into custody in Idaho on Thursday, authorities said.
The two suspects — Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour — were arrested in Twin Falls, Idaho, around 2 p.m. after a lengthy investigation and a short car chase, Boise police Chief Ron Winegar said.
No gunfire was exchanged during the arrests and there was no “extensive use of force,” Winegar said.
Idaho State Police are investigating two homicides in separate locations — one in Nez Perce county and one in Clearwater county — both involving adult males, that are “potentially tied to this incident,” Lt. Col. Sheldon Kelly said.
He said the investigation is ongoing and that the coroner’s office will provide the victims’ identifications and causes of death.
According to Kelly, handcuffs believed to have been worn by Meade while officers were attempting to transfer him back to the corrections facility were found at the scene of one of the homicides, prompting police to connect the two cases.
The search for the two suspects began on Wednesday, following what officials say was a a plan to break the escapee out of prison.
At 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, state Corrections Department officers were trying to transfer Meade back to the corrections facility after he was taken to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center for treatment, Boise police said.
During the transfer, Umphenour fired at the officers, police said. Two of the officers were shot — one faced non-life-threatening injuries while the other was stable in critical condition following the shooting.
The pair then fled the scene, prompting the police search.
Boise officers also responded to reports of an active shooter at the hospital, which was placed on a modified lockdown at the time of the incident, according to the police department.
One of the responding officers fired at an armed person who was at the entrance of the hospital, who was later determined to be a Corrections Department officer, police said. The officer sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Josh Tewalt, director of the Corrections Department, said at the Thursday news conference that one of the officers was released from the hospital Wednesday night and that the other two who are still in the hospital are “stable” and “improving.”
Meade performed “injurious behavior” Tuesday night while he was in a maximum-security facility, leading medical staff members at the prison to determine he needed to be treated at the hospital, where he arrived shortly before 10 p.m. local time, Tewalt said.
“What we know, with near certainty, this was not an accident,” Tewalt said Thursday. “This was a planned event. And we’re channeling every resource we have into trying to understand exactly how they went about planning it.”
The Corrections Depar
