A North Pole woman who demanded the release of murderers from the Spring Creek Correctional Center near Seward and shot herself in the head outside the prison gate Monday afternoon as guards looked on died hours later at a hospital, troopers said.
It wasn't immediately known what prisoners 31-year-old Amanda Bee was demanding freedom for, Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said. Peters also declined to say whether Bee had any relationship or ties to an inmate at the maximum-security prison.
At 4:58 p.m., troopers based in Crown Point, about 30 miles away, were dispatched to the prison, but before they arrived, the agency received a report from correctional officers who watched as Bee shot herself in the head, troopers said in a dispatch posted online Monday night.
Nurses and correctional officers administered CPR. Troopers said that as Bee was taken to Providence Hospital in Seward, she was still breathing.
"Between the time AST got the initial call and the time Ms. Bee took action, less than 10 minutes passed," Peters said.
In an updated dispatch posted Tuesday, troopers said Bee died just a few hours later at about 9 p.m.
Bee's next of kin has been notified. Her body will be sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, troopers said.