Authorities said an Idaho inmate and the accomplice who helped him escape during a hospital visit Wednesday by shooting at state corrections officers were captured Thursday after a 36-hour manhunt.
Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar said during a news conference that The inmate, Skylar Meade, and his accomplice, Nicholas Umphenour, were captured around 2 pm local time in Twin Falls, Idaho.
“There was a brief vehicle chase and both suspects were taken into custody separately. There were no shots fired or extensive use of force in this operation, for which we are grateful,” Winegar said in statements cited by CNN.
Meade escaped during a coordinated attack early Wednesday morning when the inmate, whom correctional officers had transported to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise the night before after engaging in “self-injurious behavior” at the Maximum Security Institution, Idaho, was being escorted from the hospital.
Umphenour, attacked and shot at the officers after an ambush. One of the officers was injured or was in critical but stable condition, while the other suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
A third IDOC officer was injured after Boise police responded and shot at an armed individual near the hospital entrance. The officer was not seriously injured and was treated.
Umphenour is charged with aggravated assault on law enforcement and complicity in escape, according to the release.
Meade and Umphenour, who have ties to the white supremacist group Aryan Knights, had mutual acquaintances in custody and in the communityaccording to Tewalt. The men also shared a housing unit at some point at the correctional facility between December 29, 2020 and until Umphenour’s release on January 17, 2024.
Additionally, two homicides are being investigated as “potentially linked” to the two suspects, according to Lt. Col. Sheldon Kelley of the Idaho State Police.
Meade was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2017 for shooting a Twin Falls sheriff’s sergeant during a high-speed chase. His previous convictions include felony possession of a controlled substance, grand larceny and introduction of contraband into a correctional facility.
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