Richard Matt, one of two convicts who escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., earlier this month, has been shot and killed, law enforcement sources said Friday, June 26.
Police are still pursuing David Sweat, the inmate who escaped with Matt early this month. Both men are convicted murderers.
A federal law enforcement source told CNN that Matt reportedly shot at a driver in a camper near Malone, N.Y., Friday. The driver then proceeded to call 911, and when the officers arrived on the scene, Matt was shot dead.
“Matt has been shot, he’s down,” Lenny DePaul, a former U.S. Marshal told CNN. “They stuck together. They needed each other.”
Earlier in the day, the New York State Police had reported that they believed Matt and Sweat were headed toward Canada following a cabin burglary on Thursday.
Both men have been making headlines and leading officials on a wild three-week manhunt since escaping from the maximum-security prison on June 6. And so far, two prison workers — Gene Palmer, a guard, and Joyce Mitchell, a seamstress — have been arrested in connection to the case.
Joyce’s husband, Lyle Mitchell, sat down for an interview with the Today show’s Matt Lauer earlier this week.
“As of right now, I don’t know what to think,” Lyle told Lauer. “I do not know. Do I still love her? Yes. Am I mad? Yes. How could she do this? How could she do this to our kids?”
The seamstress, 51, has been accused of sneaking contraband like drill bits, blade pieces, and other materials to the convicts, and was supposed to serve as their getaway driver after their prison break.
