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UTAH STATE PRISON — The Utah State Prison remained in lockdown Thursday following the killing of an inmate by his cellmate.
The death marked at least the third violent incident at the prison in the past three weeks.
Between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday, Alfonso Lopez, 27, got into an altercation with his cellmate, Jacob Ecker, 23.
What sparked the fight and how Lopez was killed, are parts of the ongoing investigation Thursday, said Utah Department of Corrections spokesman Steve Gehrke.
There were no obvious stab wounds on Lopez, he said.
What also wasn't immediately known was whether Wednesday's incident was related to any priror recent incidents at the prison.
"Right now, we're treating it as an isolated case," said Gehrke.
On April 19, a 25-year-old inmate was stabbed by his cellmate in the area of the prison that typically houses gang members. That inmate survived.
On April 10, a 29-year-old man was stabbed two to three times in the torso with an unknown weapon in a commons area of the prison.
Ecker was sentenced to prison for convictions of possession/purchase of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, attempted aggravated assault and attempted kidnapping.
Lopez was convicted of felony failure to stop or respond at the command of police, theft by receiving stolen property, aggravated robbery and driving on a suspended license.
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