New York Prison Escape Update: David Sweat, Second Fugitive, Apprehended By Law Enforcement

This story has been updated.

UPDATE, 7:35 p.m. EDT: Fugitive David Sweat is in stable condition and is being treated at Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, N.Y., New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reported at press conference Sunday evening.

Cuomo described the three-week manhunt for Sweat and Richard Matt as “unprecedented” in describing the joint effort of local, state and federal law enforcement involved in the effort to capture the two fugitives, who fled Clinton Correctional Center in Dannemora, New York, June 6. “Literally thousands of law enforcement officers were engaged in this,” Cuomo said.

New York State Police Sgt. Jay Cook spotted Sweat near the Canadian border and captured him single-handedly.

“He was alone, and it was a very courageous act,” Cuomo said. “You go home tonight and tell your daughters that you’re a hero. With teenage girls, that will probably last 24 hours.”

Cuomo noted the escape was the first "in 100 years. If you were writing a movie plot, they would say that this was overdone,” Cuomo said.

UPDATE, 5:25 p.m. EDT: Escaped prisoner David Sweat was shot in the back after being spotted and then running from New York State Police officers, according to the Buffalo News. One of the state troopers, a sergeant, reportedly opened fire, shooting Sweat twice in the back. CNN was able to obtain a photo of Sweat after he was apprehended.

Original story appears below.

Police Sunday captured David Sweat, the second man who escaped from an upstate New York prison, following a nearly monthlong manhunt. Multiple media sources reported Sweat was apprehended near the Canadian border days after another fugitive, Richard Matt, was killed in a shootout with U.S. Border Patrol officers. Sweat and Matt both escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility June 6.

The New York Times, citing an unnamed source familiar with the situation, reported Sweat was shot by state troopers in the Town of Constable shortly after 3 p.m. The Buffalo News said his wounds were "life-threatening."

Around 1,300 law enforcement officials had been searching a roughly 25-square-mile area near Malone, New York, since Saturday afternoon, USA Today reported. Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill told reporters he was certain authorities would locate Sweat because he was "going to be tired" and "going to make a mistake."

Authorities engaged Matt in a gunfight Friday after they were led to a wooded area about 20 miles from the Canadian border and 30 miles northwest of the Clinton Correctional Facility after DNA testing Thursday matched the DNA of the two convicted murderers. A homeowner noticed an out-of-place liquor bottle in his cabin and alerted authorities, who then swarmed the area looking for Matt and Sweat. The two also allegedly shot at a camper in an attempted carjacking Friday. Matt reportedly had a shotgun with him at the time of his death.

Preliminary autopsy results showed Matt suffered three gunshot wounds to the head and was ill and drunk when he was found. The Associated Press reported Matt had suffered bug bites on his legs, blisters and minor abrasions, consistent with someone who had been in the woods. Toxicology results are pending.

The area to which law enforcement traced the duo is heavily wooded and has thousands of hunting cabins, the New York Times reported. A shotgun went missing from at least one cabin in the area.

At least two prison workers helped the duo, providing them with the tools they used to cut through a prison wall. Prison tailor Joyce Mitchell allegedly helped them by hiding hacksaw blades in frozen meat, which was then handed to the prisoners. Mitchell is rumored to have had a physical relationship with Sweat.

And Mitchell's alleged involvement goes deeper. She and the prisoners had reportedly planned to murder her husband, but Mitchell later backed out.

The second prison employee to be charged, Gene Palmer, reportedly handed the murderers the meat in exchange for paintings Matt had done. Palmer was charged last week with aiding the escaped prisoners on at least four occasions and for burning the paintings in a fire pit at his home.

Sweat was serving life without parole for shooting a sheriff's deputy multiple times. Matt was serving 25 years to life for killing and dismembering an ex-boss. This was Matt’s second prison break. In 1986 he escaped from a different New York prison.