White supremacist inmate in Idaho escapes during hospital visit after an accomplice opened fire on officers

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The attack and escape happened at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center as inmate Skylar Meade was being discharged from the hospital just after 2 a.m. and another person began shooting, Josh Tewalt, director of the Idaho Department of Correction, said at an afternoon news conference.

The shooting was “a brazen attempt to get Meade out of custody,” Boise Police Department Chief Ron Winegar said at the news conference.

Meade and the suspected shooter got into a gray four-door sedan, a 2020 Honda Civic with license plate number 2TDF43U, and fled the area just before police officers arrived, according to the chief.

One of the officers wounded by the suspect is in critical but stable condition, according to the chief. The other two have non-life-threatening injuries, he said.

The alleged shooter was identified in a police news release Wednesday evening as Nicholas Umphenour.

Meade was sentenced in October 2016 for aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, has many prior convictions, and is a documented gang member with ties to the Aryan Knights, Winegar said. He was due to be released in 2036.

 

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Idaho prisoner back behind bars after hospital ambush enabled his escape​

An escaped inmate and his suspected accomplice have been captured in Idaho after 36 hours on the run, during which time authorities believe they killed two men.

Little is known about two men who were killed, including any connections to the pair, Lt. Col. Sheldon Kelley, deputy director at the Idaho State Police, said at the news conference. The homicides took place in Nez Perce County and Clearwater County, police said. Handcuffs were found at the scene of one killing.

Meade and Umphenour are both members of the Aryan Knights, Idaho Department of Correction director Josh Tewalt said at a news conference Thursday — a white supremacist prison gang based primarily in Idaho.

The pair shared “common acquaintances” in and outside prison, and shared a housing unit at times inside Idaho Maximum Security Institution between December 2020 and Jan. 17, 2024, when Umphenour was released, Tewalt said.