A getaway driver drove a pickup truck into a busy JCPenney store in Texas on Saturday, injuring five people and was later shot and killed by law enforcement, authorities said.
Bryan Washko, a sergeant with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at an evening media briefing that four of the injured were taken to the hospital from the Killeen Mall and the fifth went to the hospital on his own. Their ages range from 6 to 75, and their conditions are not yet known.
Ofelia Miramontez of the Killeen Police Department said the incident began when someone received a call about a black pickup truck about 20 miles (30 kilometers) away in Belton. There was a driver in the car who was acting erratically.
According to Washko, the chase began on Interstate 14 around 5 p.m. Washko said the driver pulled into a shopping mall parking lot, crashed into the department store – which was packed with shoppers four days before many people celebrated Christmas – and kept driving.
He said local law enforcement officers at the mall – one on-duty security guard and two other off-duty security guards – also engaged in a shootout with the suspect.
Washko had no information on the suspect’s identity.