5 injured, 1 killed after fleeing driver crashes into Texas mall

Five persons on Saturday sustained varying degrees of injuries when a man who was being chased by police drove his pickup truck into the JCPenney shopping mall in Texas, United States.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said the man drove into the mall after a 19-mile police pursuit, striking four people before he was fatally shot by responding law enforcement officers.

Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Bryan Washko at a Saturday press conference said:

“A trooper shot and killed the suspect after the chase led them into the mall.

“A Texas Highway Patrol Trooper attempted to stop a pickup truck around 5 p.m. Central Time.

“The man driving the vehicle was called in as possibly driving while intoxicated.

“After the suspect exited the highway, he entered the Killeen Mall parking lot, where he drove through the glass doors of a JCPenney store’s main entrance.

“The suspect drove through the doors and continued to travel through the JCPenney store, striking multiple people.

“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.

“Troopers and local police followed the truck through the mall on foot and engaged in gunfire with the suspect to end the threat.

“There are 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.”