An Idaho prison gang member and an accomplice who escaped from a Boise hospital Wednesday in a brazen escape that left three corrections officers shot were arrested Thursday, according to authorities, who said they were investigating whether the men had killed two people while they were free.
The episode began around 2 a.m. Wednesday when Idaho Department of Corrections officers took Skylar Meade, 31, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, for medical treatment. the Boise Police Department. he said on Wednesday.
As officers were about to take him back to jail, they were attacked by someone later identified as Nicholas Umphenour, 28, authorities said. Three policemen were shot — two by Mr Umfenour and one by a policeman who arrived at the hospital soon after the ambush, the authorities said. Mr. Meade and Mr. Umphenour, who had been prison mates for about four years, fled before Boise police officers arrived at the hospital, the Police Department said.
While Mr Meade and Mr Umphenour were at large, police warned the two men were considered “armed and dangerous”. They were arrested without incident around 2 a.m. Thursday after a brief vehicle pursuit in the Twin Falls area, about 120 miles southeast of Boise, Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar said at a news conference.
Lt. Col. Sheldon Kelley with the Idaho State Police said at the news conference that authorities are investigating whether separate murders of two men — one in Nez Perce County and another, about 100 miles northeast in Clearwater County, Idaho — are linked to Mr. O Meade and Mr. Umphenour.
Col. Kelley said handcuffs found at the scene of one of the murders helped authorities establish a possible link to the two suspects.
The names of the two men killed were not released Thursday, and it was unclear whether the victims had gang ties.
The Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that deputies found one of the men dead around 8 p.m. Wednesday after being asked to do a welfare check. The Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office referred questions about the homicide there to Idaho State Police.
Josh Tewalt, director of the Idaho Department of Corrections, said at a news conference that one of the officers who was injured was released from the hospital Wednesday night and that the other two officers are in stable condition and improving.
Authorities were still trying to piece together how the hospital ambush unfolded. Mr Tewalt said the authorities believed Mr Meade and Mr Umphenour had worked together to orchestrate the attack.
“We know with near certainty that it was not an accident,” Mr. Tewalt said. “This was a planned event.” Charges are pending against the two.
Mr. Meade and Mr. Umphenour were housed at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution between December 2020 and January 2024, Mr. Tewalt said. He added that they were believed to have some acquaintances and were both members of the Aryan Knights, a white supremacist prison gang based primarily in Idaho, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Mr. Mead was serving time for aggravated assault on a police officer with a firearm accessory and had previous convictions for possession of a controlled substance, grand theft and transporting contraband into a correctional facility, according to the Boise Police Department. He had been in jail since October 2016 and was serving a sentence until October 2036, the Police Department said.
It was not clear why Mr Umfenur was in prison. He was released from custody on Jan. 17, 2024, according to the Idaho Department of Corrections.
Mr Tewalt said the authorities were investigating whether Mr Meade and Mr Umphenour were communicating on clandestine mobile phones.
“We know there are ways they’re trying to thwart our processes and our safeguards that we have in place,” Mr. Tewalt said, “and that’s what we’re trying to figure out right now.”
