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The Latest: Farmer heard shots as escapee captured on land

Jun 28, 2015, 8:25 PM

A corrections officer walks in a roadside ditch during a search on Sunday, June 28, 2015, in Malone...

A corrections officer walks in a roadside ditch during a search on Sunday, June 28, 2015, in Malone, N.Y. The shooting death of one escaped killer brought new energy to the three-week hunt for a second escaped murderer in the United States as helicopters, search dogs and hundreds of law enforcement officers converged on a wooded area 30 miles from Clinton Correctional Facility. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

(AP Photo/Mike Groll)

CONSTABLE, N.Y. (AP) — The latest on the manhunt following the escape of two convicted murderers from a maximum-security prison (all times local):

11:00 p.m.

The Amish dairy farmer who owns the land where an escaped killer was shot and captured in upstate New York says she heard gunfire from her house but didn’t think much of it until the police cars and ambulance started streaming in.

Verba Bontrager, who has run her family’s dairy farm in Constable for the last nine years, says David Sweat was caught just feet from an electrified fence where the cows graze.

She said she was chatting with visitors inside when she heard two gunshots. Her children and a family friend then went outside and heard from a trooper that Sweat was caught.

She said her children had been home alone earlier, and even though she knew police were looking for Sweat, she never thought to be worried. Now, she says, they’re all a little shaken.

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10:35 p.m.

An escaped inmate who was shot and captured in upstate New York has been transported to an Albany hospital, where he is listed in critical condition.

Dr. Dennis McKenna says David Sweat was transported to Albany Medical Center on Sunday night. He says Sweat is being evaluated by a trauma team that will determine whether surgery is necessary.

He says he cannot release further details, citing privacy laws.

New York State Police say a sergeant shot and wounded Sweat on Sunday afternoon after seeing a suspicious man walking down a road in Constable, a town about two miles from the Canadian border.

Sweat was captured two days after his escape partner, Richard Matt, was shot and killed by authorites.

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8 p.m.

A prosecutor says the surviving inmate who broke out of an upstate New York prison three weeks ago will be charged with escape, burglary and other counts.

David Sweat was captured Sunday afternoon after being shot twice by a state police sergeant less than two miles from the Canadian border.

Sweat and fellow inmate Richard Matt escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6. Matt was shot and killed after being spotted by authorities on Friday.

Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie says Sweat has not been formally interviewed by investigators but any information he provides could be critical to the ongoing investigation.

Two jail employees face charges in connection with the escape.

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7:30 p.m.

Authorities say the inmate who was shot and captured after three weeks on the run was not armed when he was taken into custody.

New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico says the sergeant who captured David Sweat opened fire after the inmate ran from him toward a tree line near the Canadian border.

D’Amico says Sgt. Jay Cook was by himself when he shot and wounded Sweat after the fugitive refused a command to stop.

Sweat was captured two days after his escape partner, Richard Matt, was shot and killed by authorities. The men had been on the loose since June 6, when they cut their way out of a maximum-security prison about 30 miles away using power tools.

D’Amico says the men may have used pepper to mask their trail. He says DNA was recovered from pepper shakers found at one suspected camp.

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7:10 p.m.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the escaped inmate shot and captured after three weeks on the run is in stable condition.

Cuomo says David Sweat was shot by a New York State Police sergeant who saw him walking along a road and recognized him.

Cuomo says the trooper opened fire after Sweat fled from him. Sweat was shot twice and taken to a hospital for treatment.

Sweat was captured two days after his escape partner, Richard Matt, was shot and killed by authorities.

The two men had eluded capture since they cut their way out of a maximum-security prison 30 miles away on June 6.

Cuomo says “the nightmare is finally over.”

___

6:30 p.m.

An escaped inmate who was shot and captured in upstate New York is expected to be transported to an Albany hospital.

Albany Medical Center spokesman Jeffrey Gordon says David Sweat will be transported there sometime Sunday evening. A trauma unit is standing by.

Sweat’s condition was not immediately released.

New York State Police say Sgt. Jay Cook shot and wounded Sweat after seeing a suspicious man walking down a road in Constable, a town about two miles from the Canadian border.

Sweat was captured two days after his escape partner, Richard Matt, was shot and killed by authorities.

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5:25 p.m.

State police say a trooper shot a prison escapee after spotting him walking down a road just a couple miles from the Canadian border.

Authorities say the trooper spotted a suspicious man around 3:20 p.m. in the town of Constable. It turned out to be David Sweat, one of the two convicted murderers who escaped from an upstate New York prison three weeks ago.

Sweat was taken into custody and transported to a hospital.

State police said Sweat’s condition was unknown. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer says federal law enforcement officials told him the inmate was shot twice.

The other inmate, Richard Matt, was shot and killed Friday.

Authorities had been searching for the men since their June 6 escape from a maximum-security prison about 30 miles away.

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4:45 p.m.

U.S. Sen Charles Schumer says there are no reports any officers were hurt in the shooting and arrest of the second convicted killer who broke out of a maximum-security prison three weeks ago.

Schumer says federal law enforcement officials told him David Sweat was shot twice and coughing up blood as he was taken to a hospital.

Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill says Sweat was shot by law enforcement officers in the upstate New York town of Constable. That’s about two miles south of the Canadian border.

Sweat and Richard Matt had been the subject of an intense manhunt since their June 6 escape from a prison about 30 miles away. Matt was shot and killed by authorities on Friday.

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4:25 p.m.

A sheriff says the second of two convicted killers who staged an elaborate escape from a maximum-security upstate New York prison three weeks ago has been shot and taken into custody.

Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill says David Sweat was shot Sunday afternoon in Constable. He says Sweat was transported to a medical center in Malone but had no information on his condition.

Fellow inmate Richard Matt was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement officers on Friday.

Authorities say the pair used power tools to saw through a steel cell wall and several steel steam pipes, bashed a hole through a 2-foot-thick brick wall, squirmed through pipes and escaped early June 6 from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.

Sweat was serving life without parole in the killing of a sheriff’s deputy in Broome County in 2002. Matt was serving 25 years to life for the killing and dismembering of his former boss.

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2 p.m.

State police say an escaped inmate killed by authorities after three weeks on the run in the woods of upstate New York had been shot three times in the head.

New York State Police released details of Richard Matt’s autopsy on Sunday.

Officials say Matt also had bug bites on his legs, blisters and minor abrasions that would be expected for someone who had been living in the woods. Toxicology results are still pending.

Matt was shot and killed by a member of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Tactical Unit on Friday. He and another inmate escaped from a maximum-security prison near the Canadian border on June 6.

Hundreds of law enforcement personnel are still searching for David Sweat.

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1:20 p.m.

A coroner who examined the body of an escaped killer says he had been eating and drinking during his time on the run, was fittingly dressed for the outdoors and largely unassailed by the swarms of bugs present in the woods where he was shot and killed.

Franklin County Coroner Brian Langdon said Sunday that Richard Matt was in good physical shape until his fatal confrontation with authorities. He declined to say how many times Matt was shot on Friday but says the cause of death was multiple trauma.

The coroner says the results of toxicology reports are several weeks away.

Langdon says Matt’s body was clean and he may have even showered and shaved in the time since his escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6.

A second escapee, David Sweat, remains the subject of a massive manhunt in northern New York.

___

11:20 a.m.

New York state troopers with guns drawn were seen searching a cabin in Malone as officers from several state and federal agencies continued their search for the surviving killer who escaped from a maximum-security prison more than three weeks ago.

A steady rain continued Sunday as police dogs and their handlers pushed through dense woods checking hunting camps and following up on tips after an overnight search revealed no new signs of David Sweat.

About 1,200 searchers continued to focus on 22 square miles around where Sweat’s fellow escapee, Richard Matt, was shot to death by officers on Friday.

The two fled the Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6.

___

12:45 a.m.

Officers scouring the dense and boggy woods in northern New York for a surviving escaped killer took floodlights into the search area overnight, and others carrying rifles manned checkpoints and examined vehicles, opening trucks and peering into windows.

Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill said late Saturday more tips poured in earlier in the day, and he was optimistic David Sweat would be captured, perhaps within 48 hours.

Mulverhill says residents are concerned that Sweat is on the loose and deputies are responding to anyone who wants their cabins checked. He says he think it will “be one of those phone calls that turns this case around.”

Sweat’s fellow escapee, Richard Matt, was shot to death by officers on Friday. The two fled the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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The Latest: Farmer heard shots as escapee captured on land