ARLINGTON (WBAP/KLIF News) — A man is dead after police say he shot his wife and took his two children on a multi-county police chase.
According to Lt. Christopher Cook with the Arlington Police Department the chase began around 2:30 a.m., Thursday morning when the mother of the children texted police that she had been shot three times while being in the family’s RV.
Cook said that the woman eventually jumped out or was pushed out of the RV at more than 80 mph on Interstate-30 in Caddo Mills. She was taken to Baylor University Medical Center.
The Hunt County Sheriff’s Department confirmed she underwent surgery, but is out and recovering. Her exact condition is unknown, but the Sheriff Randy Meeks said she was unable to communicate due to a breathing tube and broken jaw.
The husband would continue driving with the children on board through Caddo and several other counties before officers put down a spike strip near Rowlett.
Continuing down I-30, the RV eventually caught fire and stopped in Arlington near Cooper Street. Once stopped, the suspect released the two children. As police went to move the kids to safety they heard a gunshot from inside the vehicle.
The fire then escalated, engulfing the RV. Investigators believe the suspect died from either a gunshot wound or the fire. A medical examiner will determine the official cause.
Meeks said the two had a five-year relationship and that an argument started sometime late last night at a storage facility in Far East Dallas. That’s when, according to police, the family got in the RV and began driving.
Authorities were unsure at what exact point the man shot the mother. The children are expected to be O.K, though Cook said they were traumatized and asking for their mother when officers retrieved them.
