A prisoner from the Johnston Correctional Institution who was shot and killed by a correctional officer during an escape attempt around noon Tuesday was working at a prison-operated paint plant shortly before the incident.

Correctional spokesman Keith Acree said Adelino Najera climbed over two fences at the Corrections Enterprises Plant adjacent to the main facility. After Najera ignored several commands from tower-based corrections officers to stop, the Honduras native was shot and killed.

“The inmate scaled both of the perimeter fences around the plant,” Acree said. “Officers on the towers saw him… gave him several orders to stop, we he reached the ground beyond the second fence, officers fired at him with a shotgun.”

Najera was serving a 10-year sentence for second-degree murder. He was convicted in Stokes County in 2001 and was set to be released on June 4, according to correctional records.

Although English was not Najera’s first language, according to Acree, he had taken an English course while in prison and could understand the officer’s verbal commands. Those prison employees involved in the shooting “will continue to work” at the facility, Acree said.

A North Carolina state law permits corrections officers to use deadly force to stop an escaping felon.

“At a medium security institution like this, state law does allow corrections officers to use deadly force on an escaping felon and that’s what they did in this case,” according to Acree.

Upon his release, Najera was set to appear in deportation hearings.

The last time an escaping inmate was shot and killed in North Carolina was in 2002.

“We had an offender that ran from a road squad in Columbus County,” Acree said. “And he was shot and killed.”