A neo-Nazi inmate and his accomplice suspected of killing two people while on the run were arrested Thursday in the United States, after a violent escape during a hospital visit in Idaho.
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The arrest of the two men took place “around 2 p.m. this afternoon” in Twin Falls, a small town in this western American state, explained Boise police chief Ron Winegar during a press conference.
The two men were arrested after “a brief chase”, without any shots being fired, he said.
During their 36-hour run, the duo may have killed two people, according to Lt. Col. Sheldon Kelley of the Idaho State Police, in charge of the investigation.
“We are investigating two homicides committed in different locations (…) potentially linked to this case,” he explained.
The objects of a large manhunt, the two suspects were constantly on the front page of news channels, after a spectacular escape on Wednesday around 2 a.m.
A member of the “Aryan Knights”, a white supremacist gang, Skylar Meade was a classified dangerous inmate, incarcerated under a regime of solitary confinement. But during a visit to the hospital in Boise, an armed accomplice attacked the prison officers who were supervising him and allowed him to escape in the middle of the night.
The accomplice was identified as Nicholas Umphenour. Police say he injured two corrections officers during the attack. A third prison guard was injured by police officers sent to the hospital, who confused him with the shooter.
Shaved heads and heavily tattooed, the two men were incarcerated in the same prison in the past, according to authorities.
Nicholas Umphenour was released in January. Skylar Meade had been serving a 20-year prison sentence since 2016 for shooting a police officer during a chase.
The lives of the three injured prison officers are not in danger, according to Mr. Winegar.
