What’s known about the medical transport ambush in Boise, Idaho, and was anyone hurt?

Gunfire broke out in Boise, Idaho, on March 20, 2024, when a medical transport carrying a prison inmate was attacked in an ambush at a local medical center. The suspect who instigated the attack and the inmate fled the scene, and a “blue alert” was issued with both men considered a threat to public safety.

According to IdahoNews, inmate Skylar Meade was at the Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. As Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) officers prepared to take Meade back to prison, the shooting started. Boise police responded to reports of an active shooter and exchanged gunfire with the suspects. Meade and the assailant reportedly fled in a grey four-door sedan, possibly a Honda Civic.

Meade was reportedly in prison on an aggravated battery conviction and has a lengthy criminal history, including grand theft and felony possession of a controlled substance. His current sentence began in 2016 and was expected to end in 2036. Before the attack, Meade, 31, had been in modified solitary confinement in a Kuna facility, a Boise suburb.

Three IDOC officers were injured

Three IDOC officers were injured in the ambush attack. One was later determined to have been shot accidentally by a Boise police officer at the scene. One officer was listed in critical but stable condition, ABCNews4.com reported. No medical center staff or patients were injured. No one died. Saint Alphonsus was put on temporary lockdown when the violence started, but that lockdown has since been lifted. All patients and medical personnel were declared safe.

Referring to the incident, Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar said in a statement, “This brazen, violent, and apparently coordinated attack on Idaho Department of Corrections personnel, to facilitate an escape of a dangerous inmate, was carried out right in front of the Emergency Department, where people come for medical help, often in the direst circumstances.”

The ambush was planned

Speaking with NBC News, IDOC director Josh Tewalt said Skylar Meade had engaged in “injurious behavior” at the maximum security facility where he was housed the night before he was taken to the medical center, and that authorities believe the ambush attack was planned.

Meade, a known gang member, is reportedly 5-foot-6 and weighs 150 pounds. He has face tattoos with the numbers 1 and 11, meaning A and K, representing the Aryan Knights, with which Meade is affiliated. Meade also has an A and K tattooed on his abdomen, police said. Information about Meade’s alleged accomplice was not available as of this report.

“We caution anyone who may have contact with the suspects involved in this violent attack and escape to call 911 immediately and not confront them personally. They are armed, dangerous, and have shown they are willing to use extreme violence in furtherance of their criminal activity,” Police Chief Winegar added.