By GENE JOHNSON and MARK THIESSEN (Associated Press)
Authorities are looking for a white supremacist inmate from Idaho and a partner who ran away after the partner shot and injured corrections officers while they were moving the inmate from a hospital in Boise, as per the police.
Omphenour is believed to have shot two corrections officers during the ambush at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center on Wednesday. Police have issued a warrant for his arrest with a $2 million bond on two counts of aggravated battery against law enforcement and one count of aiding and abetting an escape.
He and Skylar Meade, the inmate, left soon after the shooting in a gray 2020 Honda Civic with Idaho plates. The police mentioned on Wednesday evening that their current location and destination are unknown.
Two corrections officers were allegedly shot by Umphenour, while one was shot by responding police during the attack.
Officials labeled Meade, 31, as a member of a white supremacist gang. Meade was sentenced to 20 years in 2017 for shooting at a sheriff’s sergeant during a high-speed pursuit.
The incident took place at 2:15 a.m. as Idaho Department of Correction officers were preparing to return Meade to prison. Department Director Josh Tewalt stated during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that Meade was taken to the hospital at 9:35 p.m. on Tuesday following self-harm behavior, and medical staff concluded he needed urgent care.
One of the officers shot by the suspect was in critical but stable condition, according to the police, while the second injured officer had serious but not life-threatening wounds. The third injured corrections officer also sustained non-life-threatening injuries when a responding officer mistakenly thought the shooter was still in the emergency room and fired a weapon upon seeing an armed individual near the entrance.
“This bold, violent, and seemingly coordinated attack on Idaho Department of Corrections personnel to aid the escape of a dangerous inmate took place right in front of the Emergency Department, where people seek medical assistance, often in dire circumstances,” Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar stated in a written message.
Umphenour, who is 5 feet 11 inches (180 centimeters) tall and weighs 160 pounds (72.5 kilograms), has brown hair and hazel eyes, according to the police. Detectives have verified that he is associated with Meade, stated the police. The Associated Press' attempts to reach Umphenour via social media were unsuccessful.
Meade, who is 5 feet 6 inches (168 centimeters) tall and weighs 150 pounds (68 kilograms), has facial tattoos with the numbers 1 and 11, which represent the Aryan Knights gang he was connected to, as per Tewalt. Photos released by the police also displayed A and K tattoos on his abdomen.
The Aryan Knights were established in the mid-1990s in the Idaho prison system to organize criminal activity for a specific group of white individuals in custody, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in the district of Idaho.
Meade had been kept alone in a special type of isolation known as administrative segregation at Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, which is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of Boise, because officials believed he posed a serious security threat, Tewalt said.
Tewalt previously stated that Meade had been accompanied by two uniformed, unarmed officers wearing bulletproof vests in the ambulance and at the hospital, with armed staff following them. Later on, Correction Department spokesperson Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic mentioned in an email that authorities had verified that one officer had been in the ambulance with Meade and two officers were in an escort vehicle.
“To the best of our knowledge, Meade was restrained while being escorted to and from the hospital,” Kuzeta-Cerimagic said. She didn’t specify whether the restraints were handcuffs, shackles or another type of restraint but said transport procedures depend on the custody level of the person being transported.
Authorities also did not mention if additional security measures were in place when Meade was leaving the hospital.
The attack occurred during a surge of gun violence at hospitals and medical centers, which have struggled to adjust to the threats.
A spokesperson for Saint Alphonsus said the shooting took place in the ambulance bay near its emergency department.
“All patients and staff are safe, the medical center campus is safe and secure, and has resumed normal operations. The Emergency Department itself is currently under temporary lockdown while the Boise Police Department completes the investigation,” Leticia Ramirez said Wednesday morning in a statement.
She stated that as an additional measure, “we have increased security on campus, all entrances to the hospital will be closed” and monitored by hospital security until further notice.
Ramirez declined to comment when asked about Meade, deferring to the police department.
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Johnson reported from Seattle and Thiessen from Anchorage, Alaska. Associated Press writer Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed.
