A prisoner who escaped custody while being treated at a Hobart hospital has been found shot dead outside a home, with another man who was at the property being questioned.
Police were called to a house at Granton, in the city's north, around 1.30am on Tuesday following reports of gunshots.
They found the body of 26-year-old Nicholas Aaron Scott outside the house.
Another man, aged 20, was discovered inside the home with non-life threatening head injuries. He is recovering in hospital and will be questioned by police.
Police were notified by the state's prison service around 10.50pm on Monday that Scott had escaped custody from the Royal Hobart Hospital.
"He'd been in prison and for medical grounds he was required to be taken to the (hospital) to receive some treatment," Detective Inspector Troy Morrisby said.
Insp Morrisby said prison guards were at the hospital with Scott, but wouldn't elaborate on how he absconded or how he travelled some 17km north to Granton.
He said the two men were known to each other.
A woman and teenage boy were also at the house at the time of the shooting.
"That area is known to us. We're aware of a small group of people that have resided there," Insp Morrisby said.
"But the overwhelming majority of that area and that street is occupied by wonderful residents, law-abiding residents."
Scott had a lengthy criminal history and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years jail in February 2021, backdated to 2020, on seven offences including aggravated burglary.
He was granted parole later that year. It is unclear how he ended up back in custody.
The sentencing judge noted he had an "extensive history" of offending but was no longer drug dependent and was motivated to recreate a relationship with his son.
