Malone, New York (CNN) Richard Matt, one of two escaped murderers from an upstate New York maximum-security prison, was shot and killed by officers involved in a massive three-week manhunt, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.

Officers are still pursuing fugitive David Sweat but Cuomo said there was nothing to confirm his location as of Friday night. Still, "several leads" were being pursued on his whereabouts, the governor said.

The search involving about 1,100 officers has transformed life in sleepy hamlets and towns shadowed by the Adirondack Mountains.

For three tense weeks, residents have coped with incessant rumors, constant roadblocks, the buzz of helicopters, state troopers in the schools and homes under lockdown as authorities have pursued more than 2,000 tips into the escapees' whereabouts.

Law enforcement finally closed in on Matt around 1:30 p.m. when police received a call of shots fired near Route 30 in the vicinity of Malone, New York, according to law enforcement officials briefed on the matter. About 20 minutes later, more gunshots were heard.

The driver of a recreational vehicle called 911 when he heard the initial shots. He kept driving and called 911 a second time when he realized his camper was hit, the officials said.

Investigators traced the site of the initial gunshots to about eight miles back from where the driver stopped and discovered the bullet hole in the back of his camper. Officers came upon a cabin where they smelled gunpowder, as if a weapon recently had been fired, New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico said.

D'Amico said federal officers searching the area heard coughs in the woods. Moments later, Matt -- armed with a 20-gauge shotgun -- was confronted and fatally shot by a Border Patrol tactical team.

D'Amico said Matt, who turned 49 on Thursday, was shot after failing to comply with verbal commands to put his hands up.

"You never want to see anyone lose their life," Cuomo said. "But I would remind people that Mr. Matt was an escaped murderer from a state prison. Mr. Matt killed two people who we know about. Mr. Matt killed his boss in a dispute and dismembered him. He fled to Mexico and then he killed another person in Mexico and was imprisoned in Mexico."

Two sets of footprints were found in the area, the law enforcement officials said. The second set is believed to belong to Sweat.

"We have no actual sighting of Sweat by law enforcement," D'Amico said. "But we have no indication that Sweat wasn't accompanying Matt at the time that he was shot and killed."

The search for Sweat was unfolding around Elephant Head, northwest of Lake Titus and about 10 miles from Malone, according to Clinton County Sheriff David Favro.

At a command center near the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, law enforcement helicopters were taking off to join the search. Passing motorists honked in approval at news of Matt's death. As nightfall approached, authorities moved floodlights into the area.

"This is definitely the hardest perimeter that I've seen around any area since this manhunt started," Favro said.

Matt's shooting occurred on a day the New York State Police reported that Matt and Sweat might have been headed to Canada. The area where Matt was killed is about 70 miles from Canada.

A reported burglary led police to a cabin on Thursday in Malone, State Police spokesman Beau Duffy told CNN. Malone is about 14 miles northwest of Mountain View, where another cabin was burglarized.

Evidence found in the Malone cabin was being tested, Duffy added. At the time, the fugitives had not been seen, but officers were "certain that the evidence is conclusive," State Police Maj. Charles Guess said Friday at a news conference.

Two prison employees have been charged in connection with the men's elaborate June 6 breakout, and the accusations against them highlight a series of apparent security lapses

Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Richard Matt, left, and David Sweat were on the run after they escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, on Saturday, June 6. Matt was killed by police on Friday, June 26. Sweat was captured two days later and is now in police custody. Hide Caption 1 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Hide Caption 2 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Matt's body lies on the ground after he was killed by police on June 26. Hide Caption 3 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Sweat was captured on June 28, multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation told CNN. He was shot twice in a field by a New York state trooper and taken into custody in upstate New York, close to the Canadian border. Hide Caption 4 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Sweat is bloodied, shirtless and cuffed at the ankles, and he appears to be breathing into an oxygen mask after his capture on June 28. Hide Caption 5 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Police escort ambulances from an area where law enforcement officers were searching for Sweat on June 28. Hide Caption 6 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Law enforcement officials are seen in the side-view mirror of a car as they stand guard June 28 in Duane, New York. Hide Caption 7 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners FBI agents conduct a search for Sweat near Duane on June 28. Hide Caption 8 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners An FBI agent searches for Sweat on June 28. Hide Caption 9 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Department of Corrections officers man a roadblock in Malone, New York, on Saturday, June 27. Hide Caption 10 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners New York State Police officers talk to motorists at a roadblock near Malone on June 27. Hide Caption 11 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners New York State Police officers stand guard near the site where Matt was shot and killed in Malone on June 26. Hide Caption 12 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners A New York State Police officer stands guard near the shooting scene in Malone on June 26. Hide Caption 13 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Department of Corrections officers and a forest ranger, back, search a barn in Owls Head, New York, on June 26. Hide Caption 14 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Corrections officers stop a vehicle Monday, June 22, in Owls Head, about 20 to 25 miles west of the prison where Matt and Sweat escaped. The discovery of the escapees' DNA in a cabin re-energized the search for the fugitives. Hide Caption 15 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners A bus transports corrections officers to a search area in Mountain View, New York, on June 22. Hide Caption 16 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Law enforcement officers use all-terrain vehicles in Mountain View on June 22. Hide Caption 17 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Corrections officers search railroad tracks near Friendship, New York, on Sunday, June 21, after a possible sighting of the fugitives. Hide Caption 18 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners New York State Police officers gather along Route 20 near Friendship on June 21. Hide Caption 19 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners A task force of U.S. Marshals and police officers go door to door near Dannemora, New York, searching for the two escaped murderers on Tuesday, June 16. Hide Caption 20 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners New York State Troopers stop civilian cars at a checkpoint outside Dannemora on Monday, June 15. Hide Caption 21 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Prison tailor Joyce Mitchell, charged with aiding the escape, appeared in court on Monday, June 15. Hide Caption 22 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Department of Corrections officers work a roadblock in Saranac, New York, on Saturday, June 13. Hide Caption 23 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Law enforcement personnel line the roadside on June 13 as they search an area in Cadyville, New York. Hide Caption 24 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners New York State Police prepare equipment during the search on Thursday, June 11. Hide Caption 25 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Authorities block a road in Cadyville during the manhunt on June 11. Hide Caption 26 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners A Vermont state trooper heads out on Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont, on June 11. Hide Caption 27 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Law enforcement officers question a woman who lives near the Dannemora prison on Wednesday, June 10. Hide Caption 28 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners An employee stands guard at the Clinton Correctional Facility on June 10. Hide Caption 29 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners An officer checks the trunk of a car at a checkpoint near the Dannemora border on June 10. Hide Caption 30 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Officers continue their search in Essex, New York, on Tuesday, June 9. Hide Caption 31 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners An officer walks through a swampy area near Essex on June 9. Hide Caption 32 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners Law enforcement officers search a wooded area in Dannemora on Monday, June 8. Hide Caption 33 of 34 Photos: Manhunt for escaped New York prisoners State corrections officers monitor traffic June 8 at the Clinton Correctional Facility. See photos of the route the escaped prisoners took Hide Caption 34 of 34

Investigators from the New York State Inspector General's Office are looking into possible breaches of security protocols that allowed Matt and Sweat to escape, setting police on a vast and costly manhunt for the past three weeks.

Other agencies are conducting investigations at the prison.

Hundreds search dense woods

As the investigations into shortcomings at Clinton continued, hundreds of law enforcement officers had been searching for Sweat and Matt in a densely wooded area roughly 20 miles west of the prison.

Searchers also had been combing the thick vegetation in the area surrounding the Mountain View cabin the escapees were thought to have burglarized.

Matt and Sweat, 35, are both convicted murderers.

Matt was accused of killing a man after a dispute over money, snapping his victim's neck and then dismembering the body.

Sweat is serving a life sentence for the killing of a sheriff's deputy in 2002.

Sweat and another man robbed a gun store and fatally shot the deputy after he confronted them.