I-35W gunman and hostage identified after deadly chase that ended in Fort Worth
A hostage killed Sunday night in Fort Worth has been identified as a 31-year-old woman who suffered a gunshot from an armed man at the end of a police chase that started in Central Texas, according to police and the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Officials also identified the gunman.
The woman was Shaelan J. Hill, who died at 8:02 p.m. Sunday at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. The gunman was J’Quinton D. Hopson, 38, who was pronounced dead at 7:51 p.m. Sunday where the chase ended in a crash.
Hopson was a passenger in the car while Hill was the driver. After the vehicle stopped, Hopson shot Hill. Fort Worth police then shot Hopson.
Jeremy Gooch, the police chief in Troy whose officers were involved in the chase before it ended in Fort Worth, said Tuesday it’s unclear where the car originated. Authorities also haven’t said whether Hopson and Hill knew each other or what their relationship may have been.
Fort Worth police had joined the chase after being contacted by police officials in Troy, south of Waco. Fort Worth Chief Neil Noakes said Sunday that Troy police contacted his agency about 7:20 p.m. for assistance in the chase on I-35W heading north.
Gooch said that Troy police had received a report from nearby Belton officials about a reckless driver on the interstate. Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Hill County sheriff’s deputies were also involved in the chase.
“The chase didn’t start in Belton, but we received a 911 call about a reckless driver in that area,” Gooch said Tuesday.
The car that officers were pursuing crashed on I-35W near Spur 280 in Fort Worth. Officers saw the male passenger holding the female driver at gunpoint, the Fort Worth chief said.
The man shot the woman. After police heard the gunshot from the car, at least one officer shot the suspect, Noakes said at a Sunday news conference.
Officers “were presented with a deadly situation where there was a hostage inside a vehicle, based on the information we know now, who had been shot,” Noakes said, according to WFAA-TV. “There’s an armed person inside of the vehicle.”
Officers “formulated a plan and acted,” Noakes said. “They did what they could to try to save that victim despite the danger that was presented.”
The Fort Worth Police Department’s major case and internal affairs units will investigate the shooting.
This story was originally published August 30, 2022 at 11:10 AM.
