A group of prisoners at a North Carolina prison attacked and killed an inmate who was serving jail time after being convicted of murdering a toddler.
A number of prisoners attacked 24-year-old Semajs Short in a housing location at Bertie Correctional Center at approximately 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.
The prison’s emergency employees performed life-saving measures on the victim before the arrival of local paramedics who pronounced Short dead at 2:37 p.m., according to the news release.
Three other prisoners also suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the attack and were treated at a hospital outside the prison, the Department said.
In 2017, a judge sentenced Short to 31 years in prison after finding him guilty of murdering a 2-year-old girl and wounding the toddler’s grandmother.
Short was 17 years old when he committed the homicide in 2014. According to local reports, Short killed the girl in retaliation for the murder of one of his friends. Short reportedly target the family of the suspected killer of his friend.
Short, who had been projected to be released in 2044, only served five years of his 31-year sentence when he was attacked and murdered in jail, according to State prison records.
The prison was placed on modified lockdown as the Windsor Police Department and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation are investigating the assault. No workers were injured in the assault.
