Two convicted murderers are on the loose, after they allegedly drilled through cell walls and tricked correctional officers with stuffed clothing in their prison beds to avoid detection, New York State Police investigators have said.
Richard Matt and David Sweat then snaked their way through back passageways of the prison in Dannemora, before fleeing from out of a manhole, police said.
Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-New York, said the men likely had help orchestrating their complex and brazen plan.
NBC News reported investigators have been questioning prison staff, to determine if an employee or contractor may have provided assistance to the pair. It is still unclear to investigators how Richard Matt and David Sweat got ahold of power tools prison officials believe the killers used to enable their getaway.
Parts of Clinton County, in upstate New York near the borders with Canada and Vermont, feel like a fortress, with police stopping cars on the roads for vehicle inspections.
"As a parent, it's really scary," said Tiffany Livermore, who has a son and niece who attend Saranac Elementary School in Dannemora. "This is a pretty safe community, and we don't want to see anything happen to our children."
The school district said amid the massive manhunt, law enforcement swept all the educational buildings and buses to make sure the escapees weren't hiding.
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"It was a little different when we got on the bus going home, because we had to go through a road stop and get checked by a prison guard," said 9-year-old Saranac Elementary Schooler Camryn Martin, Livermore's niece.
Martin and nearly 1,500 other kids were kept inside school all day. There was no outdoor recess, but it was no huge pain to the children because it was rainy anyway. Parents were encouraged to meet their children at the bus stop.
"The safety of our students and our staff is certainly our first priority here," said Jonathan Parks, the superintendent of the Saranac Central School District. "We want to make sure they are indeed safe. But also, it's pretty important that they feel safe at school and at work."
WPTZ-TV reported that law enforcement agencies had one investigative theory that Matt and Sweat may have still been on foot Monday, after someone who agreed to pick them up in a vehicle outside the prison early Saturday morning failed to show.
Police said they were chasing down several hundred tips from around the country. Tipsters could collect a $100,000 reward for critical information.
"Everybody's kind of looking over their shoulder," said Keith Russell of nearby Ellenburg Center.
Russell and his wife said they are taking new precautions like locking their doors and windows all the time, even if they are home. Russell said he's been arming himself when working in the woods behind his home.
"I'm carrying my shotgun with me," Russell told necn. "It's my property and if they didn't value the lives they went to prison for, I'm sure they're not going to value mine."
Even the youngest people in the area are echoing the wishes of this whole region. "I hope they find the criminals," Tiffany Livermore's 8-year-old son Ryan said.
Parks said parents should expect increased school security measures for the rest of the week. He said there was no dip in attendance because of concerns over the manhunt.
Police urged the public to not approach Matt or Sweat, calling them extremely dangerous. Anyone who may see them should call 911 immediately, law enforcement said.
