VERO BEACH, Florida -- Shoplifting at a Indian River County Walmart turned deadly when the robber sent a deputy on a parking lot chase, shooting a mother and father and then eventually killing himself, deputies say.
On Tuesday, Indian River County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a shoplifting call at a Vero Beach Walmart. Deputies stopped the man in the parking lot and then he pulled out a gun and started firing at them, the sheriff’s office said.
He ran through the parking lot and tried to carjack a family, who had two children in the back seat. The man shot into the car, hitting the mother and father, deputies say. The family fled as the man continued on to carjacking a second car with a woman inside.
As the man sped through the parking lot, deputies pursued, dash cam footage shows. He came to a stop at a dead end and pointed a gun at the deputy who was pursing him. Both the man and the deputy shot at each other.
Dash cam footage shows bullets piercing the door and windows of the car deputies say the man stole. The deputy did shoot the man while they were uninjured.
An autopsy later showed the man shot himself in the right temple. He died at the scene. The family was treated for non-life threatening injuries at a local hospital.
A later investigation revealed the man was wanted out of Virginia for burglary. Deputies say he is an 88-time convicted felon, with most charges from Virginia.
Deputies did not release his name.
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