A manhunt is underway for an Idaho inmate and his accomplice after the pair staged a “brazen, violent, and apparently coordinated” overnight jailbreak that left three corrections officers wounded, authorities said.
The ambush occurred in the ambulance bay of Boise’s Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center around 2:15 a.m. on Wednesday morning as officers were readying to transport Skylar Meade back to prison, the Boise Police Department said in a news release.
Meade had been brought to the hospital on Tuesday night after what Idaho Department of Corrections Director Josh Tewalt characterized as “injurious behavior” left him with self-inflicted wounds on his face and body. As Meade was being prepared for transport, a gunman arrived on the scene and opened fire, hitting two officers, according to Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar.
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One officer was left with serious but not life-threatening injuries, while the other was in critical but stable condition on Wednesday afternoon.
As Boise police officers responded to reports of an active shooter at the medical center, one fired shots at an armed figure he met near its entrance. The armed individual turned out to be an Idaho Department of Corrections officer, who was not critically injured, police said.
Meade, 31, is a “known” member of the Aryan Knights gang, Winegar said. He was sentenced to 20 years behind bars in 2017 after being convicted of firing shots at a sheriff’s sergeant during a high-speed chase that began after he fled a traffic stop, according to the Associated Press.
In prison, Meade was in “administrative segregation,” a restrictive designation applied to prisoners deemed a threat to other inmates or facility staff, Tewalt said.
“That’s not a determination by your criminal history,” he added. “It’s a classification earned by your behavior in custody.”
The identity of the gunman was unclear on Wednesday afternoon, with an investigation into the matter ongoing.
The two men were last seen traveling in a gray four-door sedan, believed to be a Honda Civic with Idaho plates. They are armed and dangerous.
“We caution anyone who may have contact with the suspects involved in this violent attack and escape to call 911 immediately and not confront them personally,” Winegar said.
