Story highlights Christopher Wilson had been imprisoned for killing a mother and her infant

Department of Correction spokesman says he was given warning before being shot by two guards

Guards are on paid leave, CNN affiliate reports, as authorities look into the incident

(CNN) A man serving life sentences for two murders was fatally shot Thursday as he tried to escape from a high-security Arkansas prison, authorities said.

Christopher Wilson was killed by two guards just before 1 p.m. at the Varner Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction, a central Arkansas prison with a Supermax facility.

"Officers gave him a demand to cease his activity, and he failed to comply," said Solomon Graves, a spokesman for the department. He didn't disclose the details of the escape attempt, saying there is a state police investigation.

Wilson died at the scene, Graves added. He was housed in the general population of Varner, which can hold as many as 1,724 inmates.

Graves said the guards followed a policy that authorizes the use of deadly force to keep a prisoner from trying to escape a fenced institution.

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