Escaped New York Convict, Richard Matt Killed by Police, Search Ongoing for David Sweat

Escaped convicted murderer Richard Matt was shot and killed by authorities in upstate New York Friday, according to officials, 20 days after he made an elaborate escape from prison.

Matt, armed with a 20 gauge shotgun, was shot and killed by a border patrol SWAT team at about 3:45 p.m. in Elephant’s Head, New York, about 20 miles south of the Canadian border and just 50 miles away from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY after he was spotted by a law enforcement officer walking in the woods.

Officials said they had no reason to believe Matt wasn’t with fellow escapee David Sweat, earlier Friday, state police told ABC News, but Sweat has not been sighted since his escape.

Investigators set up a perimeter in the area around where Matt was shot and killed to try and corner Sweat, state police told ABC News. On Friday evening, there was an active gun battle in the woods where they believe Sweat was cornered, but police are not sure where Sweat is.

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According to officials, dogs picked up a scent around 2 a.m. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who said he was briefed on the incident, said that law enforcement were contacted by a woman who got a knock at her door, he told ABC News Station WABC.

She didn’t answer the door, but instead called police, Schumer said. That’s when dogs picked up the scent and began to close in from the north and west.

Some time before 2 p.m. Friday, a person pulling a camper near Duane, NY, heard a sound and later discovered after pulling into a campsite that there was a bullet hole in it, state police said.

After that, a tactical team was deployed to a nearby cabin.

Inside, they noticed the smell of gun powder. While searching the grounds, investigators noticed movement and heard coughing, state police said.

Customs and Border Patrol agents “verbally challenged him and told him to put up his hands,” but he “didn’t comply,” State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico said at a Friday evening press conference.

He was shot and a 20 gauge shotgun was recovered from him.

D’Amico said he did not believe the men had been receiving help and that there was no evidence of Sweat at the site of a break-in in Malone on Wednesday.

“These are dangerous, dangerous men,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at the press conference.

Source: Yahoo

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