The inmate who escaped custody in Idaho and the suspect who allegedly helped him have been captured by police.
Skylar Meade, 31, escaped the custody of corrections officers Wednesday at 2:15 a.m. during a transfer back to prison from the Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, where he had received treatment. At the hospital, Nicholas Umphenour, 28, allegedly opened fire on the corrections officers, shooting and injuring two. Another corrections officer was shot inadvertently by responding police. Meade and Umphenour were arrested in Twin Falls, Idaho, around 2 p.m. following a brief car chase.
Meade was convicted of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer with a firearm enhancement, along with prior convictions of felony possession of a controlled substance, grand theft, and introduction of contraband into a correctional facility. His 20-year sentence began in 2016. Umphenour was also an imprisoned felon and resided in the same Idaho maximum security institution as Meade at different points between Dec. 29, 2022, and Jan. 17, 2024. Both are members of the white supremacist group Aryan Knights.
“This brazen, violent, and apparently coordinated attack on Idaho Department of Corrections personnel, to facilitate an escape of a dangerous inmate, was carried out right in front of the Emergency Department, where people come for medical help, often in the direst circumstances,” Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar said in a statement.
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Since the announcement of their capture, Winegar confirmed that one of the officers shot has been released from the hospital, while the other two remain hospitalized but in stable condition.
In addition to the hospital shooting and escape, Umphenour and Meade are now suspects in two murders in Nez Perce County and Clearwater County, according to Lt. Col. Sheldon Kelly of the Idaho State Police. Meade’s handcuffs are believed to have been found at the scene of one of the two murders. Umphenour is also facing two charges of aggravated battery against law enforcement and one charge of aiding and abetting an escape.