Manhunt ends as police capture fugitive
The second of two convicted murderers, who had escaped from a New York State jail nearly a month ago, was shot and wounded near the Canadian border Sunday and is now in custody.
David Sweat, 34, escaped Clinton Correctional Facility with Richard Matt, 49, more than three weeks ago and a police manhunt ensued on both sides of the Canadian border to recapture the two convicts.
A state police sergeant shot Sweat near Constable, N.Y. — roughly 63 kilometres from the Clinton prison. Joseph D’Amico, superintendent of the New York State Police, said Sweat was probably heading for Canada and was captured about 2.4 km away from the border.
“I can only assume he was heading for the Canadian border, that he was that close,” D’Amico said.
Sgt. Jay Cook was driving when he saw a man walking down the road with his back to him. He turned around and Cook recognized the man as Sweat. Police say Sweat was unarmed and began running for a tree line when Cook, a fire arms instructor, shot him twice in the torso using a handgun.
D’Amico spoke at a news conference with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at which he said Sweat is in stable condition at Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, N.Y.
Cuomo said New Yorkers had to “live in fear knowing there were murderers in your backyard.”
“The nightmare is finally over,” Cuomo said. “The escapees have been dealt with. You couldn’t have a better ending.”
Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for killing a Broome County, N.Y., sheriff’s deputy in 2002.
D’Amico said police found a camp thought to belong to both Sweat and Matt, where Sweat’s DNA was found. The two were thought to be using pepper to conceal their scent from police dog tracking units.
“The terrain is so dense you can’t see five feet in front of you,” D’Amico said. “In this case, if you stayed in the tree line, you wouldn’t have been able to see him from the road.”
Sweat’s capture comes two days after Matt — the other escapee — was shot dead by a border patrol agent in a wooded area nearly 48 km from the prison.
Matt was found by police after a person towing a camper noticed a bullet hole in it. That led authorities to track Matt to a cabin in Malone that they say smelt of gunpowder. Matt was discovered when the New York State Police were searching the property and heard coughing.
Matt, who was serving 25 years to life for killing and dismembering his former boss, had a 20-gauge shotgun when police confronted him. He was shot three times with a semi-automatic weapon, according to the autopsy results released Sunday.
Sweat and Matt were able to escape Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6 by using power tools to saw through a steel wall and steel pipes.
The two crawled through narrow tunnels before smashing a brick wall and climbing through a manhole outside the prison.
The two men were added to the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted fugitives list within two weeks of their escape.
Two prison workers have been arrested and face charges in connection to the escape plan.