2 Guards Slashed by San Quentin Inmate

A death row inmate on Thursday stabbed two correctional officers who attempted to take him from a shower to his cell, prison spokesman Lt. Sam Robinson said.

Timothy Joseph McGhee, 39, slashed and stabbed the officers with an inmate-made weapon just before 7 a.m. as the officers opened the shower door in the prison's Adjustment Center, Robinson said.

The Adjustment Center is one of three units where the male inmates on death row are housed. There are 728 people on death row in California.

The two officers suffered cuts and wounds to their heads, necks and arms and were taken to a hospital outside the prison for treatment, Robinson said.

"Their prognosis is good," Robinson said.

McGhee was sentenced to death in Los Angeles County on Jan. 9, 2009, Robinson said.

He was convicted of first-degree murder in the gang-related  killing of Ronald Martin on Oct. 14, 1997; the June 3, 2000 killing of 16-year-old Ryan Gonzalez; and the Nov. 9, 2001 killing of 26-year-old Margie Mendoza, Robinson said.

McGhee also was found guilty of the attempted murder of four other people, including two Los Angeles Police Department officers, and McGhee has been on death row since Jan. 21, 2009, Robinson said. 

San Quentin State Prison opened in 1852. It houses 3,690 inmates and employs 1,644 people.

— Bay City News Service

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