Update: Stillwater inmate kills corrections officer
According to multiple media outlets, an inmate serving time for homicide in the Stillwater prison killed a corrections officer Wednesday afternoon.
The attack happened about 1:30 p.m. in an industrial building.
The officer was identified as Joseph Gomm on the Star Tribune website, the media outlets reported that the officer had been on the job for 16 years.
The name of the inmate has yet to be disclosed.
In a released statement Department of Corrections (DOC) Commissioner Tom Roy said that "Joseph gave the ultimate sacrifice while working to protect the citizens of Minnesota."
**Update**
According to the Star Tribune, a relative identified the inmate, as Department of Corrections officials declined to name the inmate, as Edward Muhammad Johnson, who is serving a nearly 29-year sentence for second-degree murder. After the assault, he was transferred to Oak Park Heights, the state’s only Level 5 maximum-security prison.
In a news conference, Roy said a weapon was used to kill the 45-year-old officer from Blaine. The Star Tribune is reporting that Gomm was stabbed before being bludgeoned with a hammer.
Johnson, 42, was convicted in 2003 of stabbing his roommate, 22-year-old paralegal Brooke Thompson, to death while her 5-year-old daughter was nearby.
More than 1,600 inmates are housed at the 104-year-old prison, 527 of them sentenced for homicide.