Fleeing motorist dead after driving into Texas mall and injuring five, police say

A fleeing motorist drove a pickup truck into a busy JCPenney store in Texas on Saturday, injuring five people before he was fatally shot by law enforcement, 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 six to 75 years old, and their conditions were not immediately known.

The driver was later identified as John Darrel Schultz, a 53-year-old of Kempner.

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 (30km) away.

The chase began at about 5pm on Interstate 14, according to Washko. The driver pulled off and drove into the mall’s parking lot, crashed into the department store – which was packed with shoppers just four days before many celebrate Christmas – and continued driving, Washko said.

“The suspect drove through the doors and continued to drive through the JCPenney store, striking multiple people,” Washko said. “The trooper and the Killeen police officer continued on foot after this vehicle, which was driving through the store, actively running people over. He traveled several hundred yards.”

Officers from the state public safety department, Killeen and three other law enforcement agencies “engaged in gunfire”, Washko said.

One of the officers who traded gunfire with the suspect was working as a security guard at the mall and others were off-duty, he said.

Witnesses interviewed by local news outlets outside the mall said they heard multiple gunshots and saw people fleeing through the mall.