Skylar Meade: Idaho white supremacist and accomplice captured after prison break
Idaho law enforcement has apprehended two members of a white supremacist gang who have been implicated in two homicides following a prison escape last Wednesday.
Skylar Meade, a fugitive inmate, and his alleged accomplice, Nicholas Umphenour, were apprehended in Twin Falls, Idaho.
During Meade’s return to prison from a hospital, where he was being treated, Umphenour reportedly attacked guards, injuring three officers.
Authorities have identified both men as members of the Aryan Knights, a prison gang, though it remains uncertain if the escape had the gang’s approval.
Law enforcement officials suspect Meade and Umphenour of involvement in two homicides during their time on the run since Wednesday.
Idaho State Police Lieutenant Colonel Sheldon Kelley mentioned that prison restraints were discovered at the site of one of the murders, both of which occurred in rural northern Idaho and involved male victims.
Following a brief car pursuit on Thursday afternoon, Meade and Umphenour were apprehended. They were found driving a Honda Civic belonging to one of the victims.
Meade’s escape from the Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise occurred after he was taken there due to self-harming behavior, as stated by Josh Tewalt, the director of the state’s Department of Correction, during a Thursday press conference.
Umphenour launched an ambush on prison personnel early Wednesday morning while Meade was being transported back to the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, firing at them.
Umphenour was released earlier this year from the same prison. Investigators say the two men had lived in the same housing unit there.
Mr. Tewalt said it was unclear to what degree the escape was coordinated, and that prison officials were now taking steps “to mitigate the damage that gangs can do”.
“Independent of their actions, we work hard every day to try and disrupt any organized criminal activity that happens in our facilities,” he said.
Two correction officers were shot by the gunman during Meade’s escape. One had non-life-threatening injuries and another was in a critical but stable condition.
A third prison guard was injured by gunfire when a responding police officer fired into the emergency department.
Meade has been in prison since 2016 for aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer with a firearm.
He also has several previous convictions, including grand theft and felony possession of a controlled substance.
He was scheduled to be released in 2036.
