5 injured after fleeing driver crashes into JCPenney at Texas mall; suspect fatally shot: police
KILLEEN, Texas -- A man drove into a Texas mall after a 19-mile police pursuit, striking four people before he was fatally shot by responding law enforcement officers, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
A trooper shot and killed the suspect after the chase led them into the mall, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Bryan Washko said at a Saturday news conference.
A Texas Highway Patrol Trooper attempted to stop a pickup truck around 5 p.m. Central Time, Washko said.
The man driving the vehicle was called in as possibly driving while intoxicated, Washko said.
After the suspect exited the highway, he entered the Killeen Mall parking lot, where he drove through the glass doors of a JC Penney store's main entrance, according to Washko.
"The suspect drove through the doors and continued to travel through the JCPenney store, striking multiple people," he said.
Four people were injured by the pickup truck as it drove through the mall and were taken to a hospital and a fifth went to the hospital on their own, Washko said.
Troopers and local police followed the truck through the mall and engaged in gunfire with the suspect to end the threat, Washko said.
"There's people in here shopping for their families, their children, their friends, loved ones, and these kinds of things we don't like to see, obviously, and we pray for their recovery," Washko said of the victims.
Killeen Police spokesperson Ofelia Miramontez told the Killeen Daily Herald "a pursuit came in from Belton," a city about 19 miles east of Killeen.
Killeen is about 150 miles south of Dallas and is home to the Army's Fort Cavazos, formerly Fort Hood.
CNN's Tyler Galgano and Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.
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