Idaho prisoner on run after 3 corrections officers shot at Boise hospital

Doug Cunningham
·2 min read
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Three Idaho corrections officers were shot as prisoner Skylar Meade was being transported to a Boise hospital early Wednesday morning. An unknown suspect attacked the officers. Suspects are still at large. Photo courtesy of City of Boise
Three Idaho corrections officers were shot as prisoner Skylar Meade was being transported to a Boise hospital early Wednesday morning. An unknown suspect attacked the officers. Suspects are still at large. Photo courtesy of City of Boise

March 20 (UPI) -- An escaped inmate and a second suspect remain at large after three corrections officers in Boise, Idaho, were shot Wednesday morning while transferring the inmate to a hospital.

Responding Boise police accidentally shot one of the Idaho Department of Corrections employees, but the victim was not critically hurt.

Two Idaho corrections officers were wounded by the gunfire from an unknown suspect at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center as they transported inmate Skylar Meade to the facility for medical treatment at 2 a.m. Wednesday, according to a City of Boise press release.

"Three IDOC officers were injured. One officer, shot by the suspect, is in critical but stable condition," a city of Boise statement said. "The second officer shot by the suspect has serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The third IDOC officer was injured during gunfire from a responding BPD officer and received non-life-threatening injuries."

Meade had been serving prison time since October 2016 on aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer with a firearm enhancement.

Police shared a photo of the vehicle Skylar Meade and an unknown suspect were last seen in Wednesday as Mead and the unknown suspect fled after corrections officers were shot and wounded in Boise. Photo courtesy of City of Boise
Police shared a photo of the vehicle Skylar Meade and an unknown suspect were last seen in Wednesday as Mead and the unknown suspect fled after corrections officers were shot and wounded in Boise. Photo courtesy of City of Boise

Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar said in a statement, "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.

"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. "They are armed, dangerous, and have shown they are willing to use extreme violence in furtherance of their criminal activity."

The suspects were last seen in a gray four-door sedan, possibly a Honda Civic, with Idaho plates.

Meade's criminal record includes prior convictions for felony possession of a controlled substance, grand theft, and introduction of contraband into a correctional facility, according to the City of Boise.

Winegar said the wounded corrections officers are being medically monitored "with great hope for a full and speedy recovery of all involved."

According to Boise NBC affiliate KTVB, Meade got 20 years in prison for firing several shots at law enforcement during a high-speed chase fleeing a traffic stop in 2017.

Meade had 20 years left on his existing sentence when he escaped. The suspects are considered armed and dangerous.