KILLEEN, Texas (AP) — Texas law enforcement fatally shot a fleeing motorist who drove a pickup into a JCPenney at a busy shopping mall Saturday, injuring five bystanders, authorities said.
Four of the injured people were taken from the Killeen mall to hospitals and the fifth went on their own, Sgt. Bryan Washko of the Texas Department of Public Safety said in an evening media briefing. They ranged in age from 6 to 75 years old, and their conditions were not immediately known.
Ofelia Miramontez of the Killeen Police Department said the incident began with calls about an erratic driver in a black pickup in Belton, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) away.
The chase began around 5 p.m. on Interstate 14, according to Washko. The driver pulled off and drove into the mall’s parking lot, crashed into the department store and continued driving, Washko said.
Local law enforcement at the mall — one working security and two others who were off duty — also traded gunfire with the suspect, he said.
Washko had no information on the suspect’s identity.
The Associated Press
