Fort Worth police shot carjacking suspect who led them on pursuit, authorities say
FORT WORTH — Fort Worth police officers shot a violent carjacking suspect after he led them on a chase in Northeast Fort Worth, the department confirmed.
Around 5:00 p.m., officers were alerted to a stolen vehicle, which they attempted to stop; however, the driver refused to stop, Sgt Leah Wagner with the Fort Worth Police Department said. The officers followed as the suspect drove recklessly and rammed one of the officers' vehicles.
"The decision was made to spike the vehicle," said Wagner, "and that vehicle ended up wrecking out in a parking lot [near Northwest 28th and McKinley Ave.]"
After wrecking the vehicle, the suspect got out with a long gun in his hands and approached another person in a white SUV.
The suspect pointed the long gun at that person and attempted to carjack them.
Officers tried to engage with the suspect as he continued to act in a threatening way and ultimately shot at him, Wagner said.
The suspect got out of the white SUV with the long gun pointed at the business, in which people were inside. Wagner said the suspect refused to follow the officers' commands to drop his weapon and officers continued to shoot.
The suspect fell to the ground and officers gave medical care. He was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition.
"This is another example of how unpredictable, how dangerous the job of a police officer, a Fort Worth police officer can be," said Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes. "This is not anything we want to see on the streets of Fort Worth, for the innocent civilians that live in this beautiful community that know this happened in their neighborhood. It's unsettling, it's scary. when you've got somebody running around with a gun, stealing cars, carjacking innocent civilians, pointing his weapon at people, that's scary."
No officers or civilians were injured, according to Wagner, although the investigation is in the preliminary stage.
Noakes commended the officers involved in the incident.
"Today they came out here and protected," Noakes said. "Today they made sure a violent criminal was not able to continue his violent crime spree and hurt any citizens here in the city of Fort Worth."
