Authorities fatally shot one of the murderers who escaped from a New York maximum security prison
One of the convicted killers who escaped from a New York maximum security prison has been shot by law enforcement, according to multiple reports.
The New York Times reports that fugitive Richard Matt is dead.
The Daily Beast, citing "knowledgeable law-enforcement sources," first reported the news.
Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34 escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York on June 6.
The Beast reports that law enforcement shot Matt in the vicinity of Lake Titus, New York, near the Canadian border.
A source told the Buffalo News that Matt has been shot and may be dead. CNN reports that Sweat is now on the run.
Via Google MapsThe New York Times reports that gunfire was reported in northern New York, where up to 800 law-enforcement officers have gone door to door checking houses, wooded areas, campgrounds, and summer homes in search of the fugitives.
"The shots rang out as law enforcement officers zeroed in on Friday on an area of remote terrain in Franklin County, near where investigators discovered evidence in two hunting cabins that indicated the missing inmates had been there," The Times reports.
Matt was serving 25 years to life for killing and dismembering his former boss in 1997. He had fled to Mexico in the 90s after killing his boss. Sweat was serving a life sentence for killing a sheriff's deputy.
Authorities believe may have had help from as many as four corrections officers at Clinton Correctional Facility.
One officer, Gene Palmer, has already been placed on administrative leave.
She is accused of providing the inmates with cellphones, hacksaws, and power tools. She has been charged with criminal facilitation and promoting prison contraband.
Matt and Sweat used hacksaws to cut through steel walls around air vents near their cots to create the hole they would escape through, according to the New York Daily News.
Authorities also believe Mitchell provided them with eyeglasses with lights attached to them.
The prison was reportedly plagued with security lapses resulting from a sense of complacency that had befallen civilian employees and corrections officers.
More to come.
Seth WenigVermont Governor Peter Shumlin, left, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo listen during a news conference in front of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y.