Authorities have captured two inmates who are accused of obtaining two shotguns while escaping from a Kansas jail near the state’s northern border with Nebraska.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says 46-year-old Jeffrey Guenther and 30-year-old Matson Hatfield escaped Saturday from the Marshall County Jail after a fire was lit in a cell.
The KBI says Hatfield fled to a nearby home and surrendered a short time later. A pickup truck also was stolen at gunpoint from a civilian county employee.
The KBI says Guenther was arrested after rolling the truck in rural Gage County, Nebraska. Gage County Sheriff Millard Gustafson says the pursuit by Kansas authorities ended near U.S. Highway 77 and West Sycamore Road, about four miles south of Wymore.
The pickup went out of control and rolled at least once. Guenther was taken to Beatrice Community Hospital to be checked over, and then jailed in Gage County. He’s been held for Kansas authorities, but Gustafson says there may be Gage County charges against Guenther, as well.
The KBI says shots were fired at a Kansas fire department truck and at a man in front of a home. No one was hurt, and no charges have been filed in the escape.
By Doug Kennedy, KWBE, Beatrice
