Prisoner wife kills U.S. officer

A U.S. prisoner escaped from an armed escort in the state of Tennessee after his wife, a former prison nurse, shot dead a guard escorting an inmate. The pair fled the scene in a vehicle which later was found abandoned.

The incident took place as officers were loading Hyatte and other inmates into a prison van outside the Roane County Courthouse, a local police chief said.

A woman drove up in a Ford Explorer, Jim Washam was quoted as saying by BBC.

"Mr Hyatte hollered 'Shoot him!' She opened up fire on the officers, hitting one in the abdomen," he said.

Wayne Morgan died later in hospital.

A second officer returned fire, and the Ford Explorer was later found abandoned with blood on the driver's side.

Officers believe that the wife may have been wounded during the attack.

Authorities believe the pair then switched to a van.

Hyatte "is extremely violent, and he has no care or concern on what he does to anyone," said sheriff department spokesman Jeff Knight.

Jennifer Hyatte was fired in August 2004 from her job as a contract licensed practical nurse at Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville for having an inappropriate relationship with Hyatte, said Darrell Alley, a Tennessee Department of Corrections spokesman, according to CNN.

Alley said she was caught smuggling food from a restaurant into the prison and acknowledged to officials that it was for Hyatte. At the time, they were not married and she called herself Jennifer Forsyth, Alley said.

Hyatte escaped from county jail twice before, said Sheryl Jordan, chief deputy court clerk for Rhea County, 70 miles from Kingston. The first escape was in 1998; the second in 2002, she said.

Hyatte has been convicted of aggravated assault, aggravated burglary and burglary in the third degree, felonies dating to 1989. He was sentenced in 1998 to 36 months for the first of his prior escapes.

He began serving his latest sentence at the end of 2002 and was to have been released in July 2036.