Many questions remain about a high speed car chase, which turned out to be a hostage situation, that led to an officer shooting the suspect.
In a news conference Sunday night, Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes said a woman died after she was shot and killed by a male passenger who held her hostage inside a car that crashed on the interstate after a multi-city police chase.
Fort Worth police responded to a request by the Troy Police Department, which is more than 100 miles south of Fort Worth, to assist in a vehicle pursuit at 7:23 p.m. Sunday evening.
Troy police said it received multiple calls about someone driving erratically on I-35 near the Belton and Temple area in Central Texas on Sunday evening. When the car crossed into the city of Troy, an officer tried to pull the driver over, but it didn't stop and that's when the pursuit began.
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The car eventually entered Fort Worth and crashed near Spur 820.
"There was a Fort Worth Police officer who had one of the entrances blocked off, we had no idea what was going on until we saw the Prius fly right by us probably doing at least a hundred or so," said Sean Burns who saw the tail end of the chase.
Burns said his wife was driving them back home to Lewisville when the car almost crashed into them.
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"At first we were thinking 'thank God he didn’t hit us,' because he came inches and almost hit my truck," explained Burns. "The tire blew out, right as he was passing us, he was about to lose the back bumper, it was pretty intense, it was scary.”
Officers learned that the male passenger was holding the female driver at gunpoint. Officers then heard a gunshot from the vehicle and believed the driver had been shot by the suspect.
Noakes said an officer tried to transport the victim themselves because medical aid was having a hard time getting to the scene, the woman died from her injuries.
As for the suspect, at least one Fort Worth police officer fired at the male passenger who also died from his injuries.
Noakes said in regards to how his officers responded, "They were presented with a deadly situation where there was a hostage inside of a vehicle based on the information we know now who had been shot. There's an armed person inside of the vehicle and despite the danger and the threat to themselves, they(officers) formulated a plan and they acted. They did what they could to try to save that victim inside of the vehicle despite the danger was presented to themselves, and for that I'm proud of that."
This investigation is ongoing and information is preliminary, Noakes said. The Forth Worth Police Department's Internal Affairs office is handling the case.
Fort Worth police said in the coming days they plan to release more information and video from the scene.
