KILLEEN, Texas — The 31-year-old suspect of an attempted carjacking in Killeen Tuesday is now out of surgery and in stable condition after he was shot multiple times by an armed civilian, according to the Killeen Police Department.
Around 10:09 a.m., Killeen PD went to the suspect's home because he was suspected of "multiple armed robberies in the city" and had a warrant for aggravated robbery out of Dallas Tuesday, per police.
"We have as many as three over the weekend that we believe he may be involved in, but it goes back into last year that he's a person of interest in several robberies," Asst. Chief Alex Gearhart said in a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
When police confronted the man, he reportedly fled in his vehicle and led police on a chase. Police said they chased him through Killeen, Harker Heights, Nolanville, Belton then back to Killeen.
"At times during this pursuit, he was at a high rate of speed in excess of 120-125 miles an hour," Gearhart added. "He also drove on the wrong side of the road at certain times."
As he was getting off on Rosewood Drive approaching the intersection of Central Texas Expressway, he reportedly crashed his vehicle.
The suspect fled from his vehicle and tried to carjack another vehicle, police said. The driver in the second vehicle saw the suspect was armed, pulled out his gun and shot him several times to protect himself, Killeen PD said.
"He's a victim of carjacking and he did what he had to do," Gearhart said. "He defended himself and and we're happy that he's still with us."
Killeen Police had a large perimeter of the scene blocked off for several hours Tuesday. Some businesses along CTE had customers and patients not able to get to them.
"We did have multiple patients that were calling saying they couldn't get to us so we kind of went outside to look and we saw that going on so that explained everything," said Diana Robledo, who works near the crime scene.
She says a lot of people in the area are shaken up and scared that this happened so close to their work place, especially when another shooting happened just down the street Monday and others more recently.
"There was a shooting going on on Fort Hood Street, then yesterday, and now today, so it is concerning to know that there is a lot going on here in Killeen and it's not spread out it's like back to back almost," she said.
"We would like to thank our law enforcement partners, Harker Heights Police Department, Nolanville Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, KISD Police Department, the Bell County Sheriff’s Department and Constable’s Office for their assistance with this incident," Killeen PD said in a statement.
No other information has been released at this time.
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