GREAT BEND -- A manhunt is underway for two convicted murderers who broke out of a maximum-security prison in upstate New York.
The dramatic prison break took place at the Clinton Correctional Facility Saturday morning near the Canadian border.
Authorities say that Richard Matt and David Sweat used power tools to drill out of their cell and stuffed their beds with sweatshirts to trick corrections officers.
One of the men was behind bars for killing a sheriff's deputy in 2002 after he stole guns from a store in Susquehanna County.
Detectives say back in 2002, Sweat and two other men stole guns from a store in Susquehanna County and then escaped across the New York state line to divvy them up. A short time later, the group killed a sheriff's deputy who confronted them near Binghamton.
It's been nearly thirteen years since Phillip Tarsia got the terrible news. His son Kevin, a Broome County Sheriff's Deputy, had been killed by the men who had just stolen a duffle bag of guns from Mess's, a store in Great Bend, Susquehanna County.
"He is a good man. I don't know how to explain it," Tarsia said.
Now Tarsia is reeling from another shock. He learned that David Sweat, one of the men convicted of killing his son, used power tools to drill his way out of his cell in a prison in upstate New York.
"We were always wondering if they could get away, but they said, 'Oh, maximum security, that is their resting place,' but nobody never knows."
This isn't the first time David Sweat has been the subject of a manhunt. Police searched for him and his accomplices near the New York/Pennsylvania state line after Kevin Tarsia was shot and killed in 2002.
Kevin Tarsia noticed the men at Grange Hall Park near the state line in the middle of the night on July 4, 2002. When he confronted them, they attacked.
"Here we have a member of law enforcement doing their job, checking a park, and then he is gunned down in an act of extreme violence," said Capt. Frederick Akshar, Broome County Sheriff's Department.
There are a number of memorials for Tarsia at the Broome County Sheriffs headquarters near Binghamton. He was the first county deputy to die in the line of duty.
Capt. Akshar says some of the officers who helped find Sweat in 2002 are now on the case again.
"An event like this with Sweat escaping tears open old wounds if you will. It really tugs on people's emotional strings."
"It is just scary that he got out and it is something that happened right in our own community," said Katie Keynon of Kirkwood, New York.
Back in Susquehanna County, people we met wondered if Sweat might return here.
"Most dogs ultimately find their way back to the dog house that they started at, and that is certainly a possibility, and I hope they apprehend them before they get back here," said Roger Hall of Brushville.
If you think you have seen either of the fugitives or have any information about where they might be, police say whether you are in New York or Pennsylvania, call 911 right away.