KILLEEN, Texas (KXXV) — An eyewitness of the Killeen Mall incident is sharing her story one week after a deadly police chase ended with a vehicle crashing into the mall.
- A Salado resident tells 25 News she was near the Killeen Mall when the suspect drove off the highway onto the feeder road—shortly before crashing into the JCPenny store
- To donate to the family of four's GoFundMe, click here
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
This is what the Killeen Mall looks like one week after a deadly police chase ended when the driver crashed into JCPenney.
One woman driving nearby the mall remembers it all too well.
"That was very unexpected," Catherine Dedden said. "I just assumed that it would just that he would pull over and, you know, just be another traffic stop I had never could have imagined that."
Am eyewitness—sharing her story with us for the first time
"All I could do is pray. It's just, it's sad to see that happen to, you know, a family."
Salado resident Catherine Dedden has lived in Central Texas for 35 years and she tells me she’s never experienced anything like this.
She says her day started handing out free bibles to our community and ended at the scene of the crash.
“When I had seen him coming towards us, when we before he wrecked into the the mall, I had said, oh god, please don't let him kill anyone."
Catherine tells 25 News she was near the Killeen Mall when the suspect drove off the highway onto the feeder road—shortly before crashing into the JCPenny store.
Her dash cam—capturing the final moments before the chase ended in a wreck.
"After we got over there and all the people were running out screaming," she said. "It was startling."
Catherine tells 25 News seeing a little girl was injured by the crash— hit close to home.
"I was crying because I have a granddaughter like that too," she said. "I just cannot imagine, you know, what she was going to have to go through and what her family was going to have to go through."
In the end, one suspect was killed and a family of four hospitalized with serious injuries. 25 News reached out to Texas DPS to find out any new information on Saturday, but they say there are no further details available at this time.
