Officials: Inmate Kills Guard at Prison in NE Pa.

AP — An inmate using a homemade weapon assaulted and killed a guard at a federal prison in northeastern Pennsylvania, the first fatal attack on a federal corrections officer in nearly five years, officials said Tuesday.

Correctional Officer Eric Williams was working in a housing unit at the Canaan federal penitentiary when an inmate attacked him Monday night, according to prison officials. Other prison staff restrained the inmate, and Williams was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead around 11:30 p.m.

"This is clearly the darkest day in our institution's short history, and we are in shock over this senseless loss of a colleague and friend," Warden David Ebbert said in a statement.

An autopsy performed Tuesday revealed that Williams, 34, suffered blunt head and neck trauma and multiple stab wounds and cuts. Lackawanna County Coroner Timothy Rowland ruled Williams' death a homicide.

Officials did not immediately release details of the attack, including the inmate's name, the kind of weapon or what, if anything, led to it.

"There was just no reason, no reason at all," Williams' sister, Lauren Williams, told The Associated Press. "There wasn't a mean bone in him. He was not confrontational at all. He's never been in a fight."

An FBI spokesman in Philadelphia declined comment, saying details would be released when the inmate is charged. It wasn't immediately clear when that would happen. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Harrisburg expressed condolences to Williams' family and colleagues, but declined further comment. continue reading...