TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD/Gray News) – A prisoner serving 16 life sentences is accused of killing three inmates at an Arizona state prison on Friday.
According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Ricky Wassenaar killed Saul Alvarez, Thorne Harnage, and Donald Lashley during a fight at the Arizona State Prison Cimmaron Unit in Tucson.
Alvarez was serving a sentence for a Maricopa County murder, Harnage was convicted in Pima County of sexual conduct with a minor, and Lashley was serving a sentence for a Pima County child molestation case.
Details about the altercation remain limited, but prison officials believe Wassenaar is the only suspect and acted with “intent to harm” the three men.
Wassenaar is also already serving 16 life sentences for his role in a prison standoff in Arizona in 2004.
He was convicted along with Steven Coy of taking two guards, one man and one woman, hostage for 15 days at the Arizona State Prison Lewis Complex in Buckeye.
Wassenaar allegedly used a kitchen guard’s uniform to trick another guard into letting him into a prison watchtower. He got the uniform by overpowering an officer with a handmade weapon.
The stand-off was one of the longest prison hostage situations in U.S. history.
Wassenaar and Coy both had violent backgrounds, including crimes in the Tucson area, before the standoff.
According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Wassenaar has been moved to a prison in Florence following Friday’s deadly fight.
A criminal investigation into Friday’s fight remains ongoing.
All visitations at the prison were postponed for the rest of the day.
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