Escaped New York Prisoner Richard Matt Fatally Shot by Police
One of two convicted murderers who escaped from a prison in upstate New York earlier this month has been fatally shot.
According to Time, police officers shot and killed Richard Matt in Franklin County, New York, on Friday. Law enforcement officials are still in pursuit of the other escapee, David Sweat.
Anonymous sources close to the investigation revealed that law enforcement closed in on an area near the town of Malone. There are also reports that gunshots were heard around 4 p.m, according to the New York Times. The Daily Beast reported that Matt was shot near Lake Titus, New York.
The killers have been on the run for nearly three weeks since they managed to break out of the Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6 using power tools. It is believed that a female prisoner worker provided the murderers with "dangerous contraband" that they used to escape from the maximum security prison.
Court documents state that Joyce Mitchell allegedly gave Matt and Sweat hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and screwdriver bit on May 1, reports ABC News. Officials say the prisoners used power tools to cuts through steel walls and underground pipes in their escape route at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. They then broke through a manhole one block away from the penitentiary last Saturday.
Mitchell, who worked at the prison as a supervisor in the tailor shop, now faces a felony count of promoting prison contraband and eight years in prison. She has pleaded not guilty.
Mitchell "provided some form of equipment or tools" to the inmates while her husband "possibly could have been involved or at least had knowledge" of the escape, said Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie to CNN.
Prosecutors also slapped Mitchell with a misdemeanor charge of criminal facilitation for "rendering aid" in the prisoners' escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility.
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