Authorities believe the slaying of a corrections officer and the brazen escape of an armed, heavily tattooed white supremacist prison inmate was a crime of opportunity.

"I don't know that he had this planned really well. I don't know that this was planned at all," Utah Department of Corrections director Tom Patterson told the Deseret Morning News. "A situation presented itself and he took advantage of it. I'm not seeing anything thus far that would indicate that this was a plan for him."

Curtis Allgier is back in jail, accused of killing corrections officer Stephen Anderson in an escape that led to a high-speed chase, culminating in a tense confrontation Monday morning inside a fast-food restaurant. Police said Allgier killed Anderson after stealing his gun and shooting him in the head.

Anderson, 60, of Bluffdale, was a 22-year corrections veteran.

"I don't think he had an enemy in the world," said Anderson's son, Shawn, who is a corrections officer himself.

Corrections officials said Allgier was in an exam room inside the University Hospital's Orthopaedic clinic about 7:45 a.m. to undergo an MRI for lower back pain. Metal objects, such as handcuffs, cannot be used during an MRI.

Police were unsure Monday if Anderson was attempting to put on plastic "flex-cuffs," when Allgier overpowered him.

"In the exam room, something happened," University of Utah Police Chief Scott Folsom said. "We presume an altercation. There were signs of a struggle in the room."

Corrections officials said that to the best of their knowledge, Anderson followed all proper procedures at the hospital. After grabbing Anderson's gun, Folsom said, Allgier fired at least one shot, hitting Anderson in the head and killing him.

Escape

With the slain officer's gun in his hand, police said Allgier ran out the door and then headed down the hill toward Foothill Drive. There, he stopped an SUV with two people inside, forcing them out and stealing their vehicle.