Idaho manhunt underway for escaped convict after hospital shootout
A manhunt continues as police work to find escaped convict Skylar Meade and his alleged confederate, Nicholas Umphenour.
The manhunt for an escaped convict authorities thought of harmful and his alleged confederate ended Thursday afternoon after Boise police took each males into custody.
Skylar Meade and Nicholas Umphenour have been each arrested after being accused of a brazen ambush and capturing at an Idaho hospital that left three legislation enforcement officers injured, Boise police introduced throughout a information convention Thursday.
“We consider that this was a coordinated attack, ambush on Department of Correction officers,” Boise Police Department Chief Ron Winegar mentioned throughout a information convention. “Certainly a deliberate endeavor to free (Meade) from custody.”
Meade, a violent felon and prisoner, fled Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center after his confederate opened fireplace in entrance of the emergency room early Wednesday morning, as two Idaho Department of Corrections officers ready to move Meade again to jail, the Boise Police Department reported.
The hospital is about three miles west of the state capital’s downtown space, and fewer than 50 miles east of the Oregon state line.
On Wednesday evening, police recognized Umphenour because the suspected shooter and mentioned each he and Meade, 31, are thought of armed and harmful. Police mentioned they obtained a warrant for Umphenour’s arrest on expenses of aggravated battery towards legislation enforcement and aiding and abetting an escape.
The males have been apprehended round 2 p.m. in Twin Falls, Idaho after a brief automotive chase,” Winegar mentioned Thursday. No pictures have been fired and no “intensive use of power” was used through the arrests, he mentioned.
Skylar Meade, Nicholas Umphenour allegedly dedicated two murders throughout manhunt, police say
Meade and Umphenour are being checked out as suspects in two northern Idaho homicides, the chief mentioned. He mentioned the 2 deceased males have been present in “rural Idaho, not inside metropolis limits.”
Police officers discovered the car the duo used to flee, a grey 2020 Honda Civic, in northern Idaho, Winegar mentioned. Authorities consider the 2 received a unique car and fled the world, he mentioned.
The handcuffs Meade escaped in have been additionally discovered on the scene of the murders, in accordance with Winegar.
“The motive and why they did what they did, I do not know,” the chief mentioned.
Idaho manhunt: Escaped Idaho inmate’s handcuffs tie him to double-murder scene, police say
Who is Skylar Meade?
At the time of his escape, Mead was serving a 20-year jail sentence after being convicted of assault or battery with an enhancement to be used of a lethal weapon, IDOC data present. The conviction stemmed from a capturing in 2017 wherein he fired a number of pictures at a legislation enforcement officer as he fled from a site visitors cease throughout a police chase.
“Our insurance policies have been adopted and safety was really augmented because of Meade’s historical past in order that they did actually go above and past,” Josh Tewalt, Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) Director, mentioned concerning the preliminary escape through the information convention Thursday.
Police mentioned Meade has prior convictions together with felony possession of a managed substance, grand theft, and introduction of contraband right into a correctional facility. He has been incarcerated since October 2016 and his most recent sentence was set to finish in 2036.
Prison officers described Meade as a white male with brown hair and hazel eyes, 5-feet 6-inches tall, and weighing 150 kilos. He has tattoos on his arms, chest, calf, stomach and face.
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Officials described Meade as a white supremacist gang member, The Press Democrat reported.
During a information convention Wednesday, Tewalt mentioned Meade was taken to the hospital mid-Tuesday morning “after he engaged in self-injurious conduct and medical employees decided he wanted emergency care,” the outlet reported. Tewalt instructed reporters Meade’s face tattoos embrace the numbers 1 and 11 − for A and Ok, the primary and eleventh letters of the alphabet, representing the Aryan Knights, a gang he’s allegedly affiliated with.
“The Aryan Knights are one of the multiple security threats we monitor,” Tewalt mentioned through the information convention Thursday. “Their gang involvement does not necessarily mean that this was some gang-sanctioned event.”
Who is Nicholas Umphenour?
Police described Umphenour as being 5-feet 11-inches tall, weighing about 160 kilos, with brown hair and hazel eyes. A photograph offered by the division exhibits his head both bald or shaved.
According to detectives, Umphenour is an affiliate of Meade, police wrote in a information launch. Police didn’t launch Umphenour’s age or say whether or not he has a neighborhood prison historical past.
The hospital capturing and escape
In a information launch, police wrote, that through the 2:15 a.m. melee, two officers have been struck by gunfire. One of them suffered severe however non-life-threatening accidents and one other officer was reportedly taken to a hospital in crucial situation.
A 3rd officer was additionally hit throughout an trade of gunfire after Boise law enforcement officials arrived on the hospital however officers mentioned that officer suffered non-life-threatening accidents.
Their circumstances weren’t instantly identified Thursday.
“This brazen, violent, and apparently coordinated attack on Idaho Department of Corrections personnel, to facilitate an escape of a harmful inmate, was carried out proper in entrance of the emergency division, the place individuals come for medical assist, usually within the direst circumstances,” Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar mentioned in a information launch.
The chief mentioned his company is “monitoring the wounded IDOC officers with nice hope for a full and speedy restoration of all concerned.”
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office, the company investigating the officer-involved capturing, couldn’t instantly be reached by USA TODAY Thursday.
Anyone with details about the suspects is requested to name 911.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and observe her on X @nataliealund.
