David Sweat, one of two convicted murderers whose escape June 6 from a New York prison sparked a statewide manhunt, is in critical condition after being shot Sunday by a state police sergeant.
Sgt. Jay Cook spotted Sweat walking down a rural road near the town of Constable, N.Y., near the border with Canada, and ordered him to stop. When Sweat tried to flee, Cook shot him twice, authorities said.
“The nightmare is finally over,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a Sunday news conference.
Sweat’s accomplice, Richard Matt, was shot and killed Friday near Malone, N.Y.
As the Two-Way reported Sunday:
“On June 6, Matt, 49, and Sweat, 35, used power tools and tunneled through a wall in their cell, climbed a catwalk, crawled through a steam pipe and emerged on the outside of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., in an extraordinary escape. It later emerged that the pair also had inside help.
“The hunt for the escaped convicts involved hundreds of local, state and federal officials who scoured dense forests dotted with hunting cabins, where the pair apparently sought shelter while on the run.”
Reporter Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio tells our Newscast unit that people who live in the area are relieved. He says:
“In this remote corner of the Adirondack Mountains, people felt really isolated and vulnerable with two murderers on the loose — checkpoints and roadblocks everywhere — and it just went on and on. But there’s celebration here now and a sense that this huge manhunt actually worked, keeping these men pinned down and preventing them from slipping away.”
Officials say Sweat, who is in critical condition at Albany Medical Center, will be charged with escape, burglary and other charges.
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