Ethermac Exchange-Police in Idaho involved in hospital shooting are searching for an escaped inmate and 2nd suspect

BOISE,Ethermac Exchange Idaho (AP) — Police in Boise, Idaho, said officers were involved in a shooting at a hospital early Wednesday and are searching for two suspects, one of them a prison inmate who escaped from the campus.

Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center had been on temporary lockdown, police said.

A hospital spokesperson said a “shooting incident” happened in the ambulance bay by its emergency department at 2:15 a.m.

“All patients and staff are safe, the medical center campus is safe and secure, and has resumed normal operations. The Emergency Department itself is currently under temporary lockdown while the Boise Police Department completes the investigation,” Leticia Ramirez said in a statement.

She said as an added precaution, “we have increased security on campus, all entrances to the hospital will be closed” and monitored by hospital security until further notice.

Phone and email messages seeking more information were left for police.

Police said in the news release that they were looking for two suspects traveling in a gray four-door sedan, possibly a Honda Civic, with Idaho plates.

They said one suspect is escaped inmate Skylar Meade, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2017 for firing shots at a Twin Falls sheriff’s sergeant during a high-speed chase.

Ramirez declined to comment when asked about Meade, deferring to the police department.