Escapee Richard Matt killed; David Sweat still on the run

New York State corrections officers line the edge of the forest along County Route 41 in the town of Malone, N.Y. Friday evening, June 26, 2015, while creating a perimeter after Richard Matt was shot and the hunt was on for David Sweat. Matt, one of two convicted murderers who staged a brazen escape from an upstate maximum-security prison three weeks ago was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent in a wooded area about 30 miles from the prison on Friday, while Sweat remains on the run. (Jason Hunter/The Watertown Daily Times via AP) SYRACUSE OUT ORG XMIT: NYWAT less New York State corrections officers line the edge of the forest along County Route 41 in the town of Malone, N.Y. Friday evening, June 26, 2015, while creating a perimeter after Richard Matt was shot and the ... more Photo: Jason Hunter Photo: Jason Hunter Image 1 of / 109 Caption Close Escapee Richard Matt killed; David Sweat still on the run 1 / 109 Back to Gallery

Malone

Richard W. Matt was shot and killed Friday afternoon, nearly three weeks after he and David Sweat escaped from a maximum security prison and brought international attention to New York's North Country.

But Sweat remained on the run late Friday, and authorities were conceding that searchers had never seen him and that there was little to suggest that the escaped murderers from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora were still together when Matt died.

Matt, who turned 49 on Thursday, was killed at 3:45 p.m. in the woods near Lake Titus in the town of Malone, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and State Police Superintendant Joseph D'Amico said Friday evening at a quickly arranged press conference.

Matt was found after he apparently fired a gun at a camper trailer. When the vehicle's driver reported finding bullet holes in the camper at 1:51 p.m., police searched an area eight miles away where they believed the shots had been fired, D'Amico said. There, they found a camp where they smelled gunpowder and found evidence that it had been recently occupied.

That led police to search the immediate area, D'Amico said. When they heard someone cough in the woods, they called a U.S. Border Patrol team that confronted Matt.

"They verbally challenged him, told him to put up his hands," D'Amico said. "He was shot when he didn't comply."

A 20-gauge shotgun — which matched the description of the weapon taken from a burglarized cabin — was found with Matt, D'Amico said.

Cuomo and D'Amico said they believed that Sweat, 35, was near Matt at the time of the shooting, and hundreds of officers swarmed the area immediately, releasing dogs and setting up search lights in preparation for a long night.

But Cuomo and D'Amico seemed to caution that his capture might not happen quickly.

"We have no reason to believe Mr. Sweat was not with Mr. Matt at the time," Cuomo said, "but we don't have confirming evidence that he was either."

"The last positive sighting of Sweat (was) at the time of his escape," D'Amico said later.

Friday night's press conference was attended by dozens of local residents eager for news about Sweat's whereabouts after an afternoon filled with confusing and often conflicting reports suggesting that he was surrounded and about to be captured. Residents had been living nervously since the two men serving life sentences escaped.

"Hopefully, today it's over with," said Malone resident Matt Maguire, who said he and his fiancée have been staying with family since Monday when they heard the escapees might be in their area.

"We're the only cabin in the woods without a gun," Maguire added.

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Matt and Sweat broke free from the prison on June 6 — an elaborate and shocking escape that has raised questions about potentially lax conditions in the upstate facility that houses some of New York's most dangerous men.

Matt and Sweat used power drills and hand tools to cut holes in the backs of their adjacent cells. They climbed down several flights of utility pipes and a catwalk into the bowels of the prison, where they broke through a brick wall and cut their way into a steam pipe that led them to freedom.

Matt's death came two days after a prison guard, Gene E. Palmer, became the second prison employee arrested in connection with the escape.

Palmer is accused of giving tools and other contraband to the inmates in exchange for paintings by Matt and the information they provided on fellow prisoners, according to court records. He told investigators he thought they were using the tools he gave them — pliers and a screwdriver — to alter a circuit breaker that fed power to their cells so they could cook with hot plates.

Another employee, Joyce E. Mitchell, 51, was arrested June 12 and charged with felony counts of facilitating the escape and promoting prison contraband.

Mitchell worked in a prison tailor shop where she supervised Matt and Sweat. She allegedly had a personal relationship with both men and smuggled in tools, including saw blades and a chisel, that aided their escape. A former inmate who knew Sweat told the Times Union this week that Mitchell had for years smuggled in other items for Sweat, including tattoo ink and food. The escapees were housed in a prison honor block that was shut down following their escape.

The looser restrictions on the honor block tier may have been a factor in the escape plan because the inmates in that section of the prison were able to cook, visit other cells and were generally given more liberties than inmates in other areas of the prison. Their assignment on the honor block also allowed them to wear and keep clothing other than their prison uniforms.