Murphy (North Carolina), Jul 1 (AP) A federal inmate escaped from custody at a medical clinic in western North Carolina and fatally shot a detention officer with his own gun on Monday, then fled in a stolen vehicle before being captured in another county, a sheriff said.

The inmate had been taken to an orthopedics office in Murphy for undisclosed treatment when a scuffle began. The inmate took the officer's weapon and shot him, Cherokee County Sheriff Dustin Smith said at a news conference.

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The inmate ran into the parking lot, jumped into a vehicle that had just arrived and took off. The inmate was later apprehended in Macon County, nearly an hour to the east, Smith said.

Smith said the inmate, Kelvin Simmons, 48, will be charged with first-degree murder.

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The detention officer was identified as Francisco Paul Flattes, 56, a four-year employee of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office. Smith said Flattes' wife also works for the county detention centre.

Another officer suffered injuries unrelated to the shooting and was recovering, the sheriff said.

“This has been probably one of the worst days of my career,” Smith said.

Emergency personnel in Clay County had alerted Macon County deputies that the inmate was driving to their county on US Route 64, authorities said.

Simmons' vehicle was stopped and he was detained after a short standoff. There were no injuries at the scene.

Smith said Simmons was already being held on bank robbery charges along with an October 2024 escape. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)