Holiday shoppers at a Ross department store in the greater Seattle area got more than the gifts they were shopping for when a van crashed through the store on Monday night.
According to reports appearing on the websites of ABC and CNN, 11 people were injured when a white van crashed through the Ross Dress for Less store in Burien, Washington. At least three of the victims, one of them a two-year-old, were left in critical condition.
The Burien County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that the incident happened at approximately 9:15 p.m. when a female suspect was shoplifting inside of the Ross store. The woman attempted to run out of the store and into the passenger seat of a waiting white van that was the getaway vehicle.
In the getaway attempt, the male driver of the van took off at a high rate of speed and then hit another unoccupied vehicle. The van then bounced off the other car and crashed through the front of the store, sending cashiers, customers, and broken debris in all directions.
A total of 11 people were hurt in the crash. Three of the crash victims, a two-year-old child in a stroller, a 41-year-old man, and another man in his late 30’s or early 40’s were left critically injured and were taken to Harborview Medical Center. Another three people hurt in the crash were taken to area hospitals for treatment. Their current condition is not known.
In an interview with ABC News in Seattle, KOMO, Sgt. Ryan Abbott, with the King County Sheriff’s Department, told reporters that the male driver was placed under arrest under suspicion of DUI and vehicular assault. The female passenger was arrested for shoplifting and an outstanding warrant. Authorities have not released her identity.
