One N.Y. escapee shot dead, the other still sought

One of two convicted killers who escaped from an upstate New York maximum-security prison was killed Friday by law enforcement officers near the Canadian border, authorities said.

Richard Matt was killed, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. David Sweat’s whereabouts are unknown.

“We have no reason to believe that Mr. Sweat was not with Mr. Matt at that time (of the shooting), but we don’t have any confirming evidence that he was, either,” the governor said. “There are several leads that are being tracked down as we speak.”

Matt was killed in a wooded area in the town of Malone, about 40 miles west of Dannemora, where the prison is located, according to officials. Both towns are near the Canadian border.

New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico said Matt was “shot dead” by a tactical team from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

“We recovered a 20-gauge shotgun from Matt’s body at the location,” D’Amico said.

Matt did not shoot at police during the encounter, authorities said.

Matt was tracked down after a motorist reported that someone shot at his camper about 1:51 p.m. near Route 30, D’Amico said.

A cabin in the area of the shooting was searched and police found evidence that a gun had been fired inside and someone had recently left, D’Amico said. While searching the nearby woods, authorities heard coughs, which is when they encountered and killed Matt, D’Amico said.

Both men had been on the run since they were found missing from the Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6.

Matt and Sweat used power tools to saw through a steel cell wall and several steel steam pipes. They made a hole through a 2-foot-thick brick wall and squirmed through pipes.

Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole for killing a sheriff’s deputy in Broome County in 2002. Matt was serving 25 years to life for killing and dismembering his former boss.

Matt, 48, and Sweat, 35, tricked correctional officers at the prison by making dummies and stuffing them into their beds the night they fled. They were discovered missing at a 5:30 a.m. bed check on June 6.

Officials have said the men made their way via underground pipes to a manhole a few hundred feet from the prison walls. They emerged from the manhole and fled.

A civilian prison employee, Joyce Mitchell, was arrested June 12 and charged with a felony and a misdemeanor on allegations of smuggling hacksaw blades, chisels, a hole punch and a screwdriver bit into the prison to help the men escape. Mitchell has pleaded not guilty.

A second arrest was made Wednesday evening. Prison guard Gene Palmer faces charges including promoting prison contraband and tampering with physical evidence.

Matt and Sweat defied the odds by remaining at large so long, according to prison escape data compiled by the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Between 2002 and 2012, of the 29 inmates who escaped from New York state prisons, all were caught within three days.