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Escaped Prisoner Richard Matt Aimed Shotgun at Agent Who Found and Killed Him

Undated photos released by the New York State Police show Richard Matt, who escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.
New York State Police

July 02, 2015, 10:45 PM

 -- New York prison escapee Richard Matt aimed a 20-gauge shotgun at the border patrol SWAT team agent who found him after a nearly three-week manhunt and then killed him, according to a statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Earlier, state police said only that Matt refused to surrender and that he did not fire on the agents.

Matt and fellow prisoner David Sweat, led more than 1,000 law enforcement officers on a search that lasted 20 days after the two convicted murderers escaped from maximum security prison Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York on June 6.

A team of border patrol agents and state police was responding to a report of gunshots on June 26 near Malone, New York when one of the agents, whose identity hasn't been released, came upon Matt and ordered to him to put his hands up, the CBP said.

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Matt didn't listen to the agent's verbal commands and then aimed "what was determined to be a 20-gauge shotgun" at the agent, the CBP said. After that, the agent "discharged his service-issued M-4, striking the individual, who died at the scene."

Authorities search an area in Constable, N.Y. for convicted murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat, June 26, 2015.

Matt appeared to be acting intoxicated at the time he was shot and killed, an official brief on the matter previously told ABC News.

Sweat was later found in the area of Constable, New York, about 1.5 miles south of the Canadian border, where he was shot and wounded by a state cop this past Sunday. Sweat was last reported recovering at Albany Medical Center.

Investigators have been interviewing Sweat to better understand how the men escaped June 6 from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, and how they were able to avoid capture for so long.