SALT LAKE CITY - A member of an Aryan prison gang who killed a guard and escaped from a Salt Lake City hospital is now awaiting trial on a murder charge.

Prosecutors expect to decide Thursday whether to seek the death penalty for Curtis Michael Allgier, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Allgier was arrested Monday after less than an hour of freedom. He allegedly fired at an Arby's employee and pistol-whipped a customer who wrested the dead officer's gun from him, police said in a report released Tuesday.

A member of the Aryan Empire Warriors, Allgier was a maximum security inmate at the Utah State Prison Uinta unit. He was taken to the University of Utah Orthopaedic Center for an MRI after complaining of pain in his back and legs.

Investigators said they may never know how Allgier was able to get Stephen Anderson's gun. The two men were alone in a room with no security camera when Allgier somehow got out of restraints.

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