Fort Worth stolen ambulance involved in DPS chase, shooting in Austin
Stolen ambulance ends in chase in Austin
A person who stole a Fort Worth ambulance and evaded Texas Department of Public Safety troopers on a chase in Austin has died.
AUSTIN, Texas - A person who stole a Fort Worth ambulance and evaded Texas Department of Public Safety troopers on a chase in Austin has died.
The upper deck on I-35 will remain closed for some time as the investigation into the incident continues.
What happened on I-35 in Austin?
Texas DPS officer-involved shooting news conference
Texas DPS provides an update on an officer-involved shooting that involved a stolen Fort Worth ambulance and ended in Austin.
The backstory:
Texas DPS says that at around 6:30 a.m., troopers were notified about a stolen Fort Worth Fire/EMS ambulance traveling southbound on I-35 in Williamson County.
A DPS trooper located the ambulance and tried to conduct a traffic stop. Emergency lights were activated, but officials say the driver refused to stop and began actively evading law enforcement.
Officials say the driver continued southbound on I-35 and around Highway 290 area in Austin, where the driver began intentionally ramming multiple vehicles.
Troopers attempted a pit maneuver, but the ambulance continued to evade and ram vehicles as it got onto the I-35 upper deck.
Officials say that's when a trooper fired their gun at the driver. The driver died at the scene.
Austin-Travis County EMS transported one person to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Texas Rangers are investigating.
Dig deeper:
The Fort Worth Fire Department confirmed in a statement that one of its ambulances was stolen from Station 4 located at 2954 Old Mansfield Road in Fort Worth.
Officials said they can only confirm the ambulance was stolen and will release more information as they piece together details of the incident with the multiple agencies involved.
What you can do:
Officials say the upper deck of I-35 where the incident happened will be closed for some time as the investigation continues.
People are asked to avoid the area and find alternate routes.
Drivers in Austin speak about what they saw
Local perspective:
"I just looked over to the southbound lanes, and I saw some police and emergency lights going, and I saw that there were at least two DPS officers following a white and blue ambulance," Adrian Swain said.
Adrian Swain said that is what he saw as he was heading from South Austin to Round Rock.
"I knew it wasn't a Travis County ambulance, it wasn't from here. But I was wondering why those officers were following that ambulance with the lights on and the ambulance didn't have its emergency lights on," Swain said.
Then Swain had a thought: "I said, I hope nobody stole that, that ambulance, and I was joking in my mind."
For drivers who happened to be on I-35 Thursday morning, the chaos was hard to miss.
"It was probably, I want to say, probably the most chaotic thing I've seen while driving somewhere regarding, you know, first responders responding to something," Hillary said.
Hillary said she was coming from U.S. 290 and taking the exit for I-35 South when she got an alert about police activity.
"It's kind of a little scary because you don't really know exactly what you're continuing to drive towards," Hillary said.
Swain said he is still processing what he saw.
"It's been crazy lately in Austin, Texas," Swain said.
The Source: Information from Austin Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety and from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Meredith Aldis