New York prison escapees: one shot dead and the other captured

“These were really dangerous, dangerous men. The nightmare is finally over,” said New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo at a press conference when the unprecedented Shawshank Redemption-style prison escape came to an end on Sunday,after 22 days of manhunt. The two convicted murderers, Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, had been fugitive after escaping the Clinton Correctional Facility of in Dannemora, New York, in the early morning on June 6.

According to the AP, the two fugitive pair had gone into the woods and were moving toward the Canadian border following the railroad track and electric wires. Matt was found in the upstate town of Malone on Friday, 43 kilometers northwest of the maximum-security prison and 16 kilometers from the Canada border, and shot dead by the police while resisting arrest. Matt was spotted when he fired at a passing camper van to rob the car. On Sunday, two days later, Sweat was shot two times in his body and taken into custody 3 kilometers from the Canadian border to Quebec. Sweat is reportedly alive but in critical condition.

New York State has mobilized 1,300 state and federal police agents in search for the prison escapees. The ongoing manhunt has left many local residents in fear. On the day when Sweat was captured, the local media New York Daily News put a title “No Sweat” on its Internet article, which is named after the prison escapee, meaning now the prison break is over.