1 killed, 5 inside store injured when SUV plows through wall

A 24-year-old woman was killed and five other people inside a convenience store were injured Tuesday afternoon when a speeding Chevy Avalanche smashed through a wall of the store on East Lancaster Avenue, police reported.

The Avalanche’s driver had sped away from a minor wreck a few blocks away and was traveling 80 to 100 mph when he lost control and crashed into Star Food Mart, 1799 E. Lancaster Ave. about 1:30 p.m., police said.

The driver, identified as Isaac Adams, 19, of California, had minor injuries. Officers suspect that he was under the influence of a narcotic, police said. After he was arrested, he was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital after complaining of pain.

Adams was in the Mansfield jail Thursday man with bail set at $100,000 in the intoxication manslaughter case. He is also being held on two outstanding traffic warrants for speeding and no drivers license out of White Settlement, jail records show.

A passenger in the truck left the scene but returned, and was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

Sylvia Zazueta, 24, of Fort Worth was pronounced dead at 2:33 p.m. at John Peter Smith Hospital, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office. She had critical injuries to her head, chest and extremities, a MedStar spokesman said.

The other people in the store had non-life-threatening injuries.

“When officers and firefighters first got here, citizens joined in to help. They were just pulling the building apart and pulling debris off people, trying to get to the people that were trapped inside the store and underneath” the Avalanche, said Cpl. Tracey Knight, a police spokeswoman.

Firefighters had to remove the vehicle to free a person pinned underneath.

“The vehicle was almost entirely into the structure so crews began working to extricate the people who were inside,” Fire Lt. Kyle Falkner said. “They actually had to pull the vehicle out of the building utilizing a fire truck to get one person that was pinned.”

The earlier minor wreck involving the Avalanche was at Riverside Drive and U.S. 287 and involved a small yellow car, Knight said. When the yellow car’s driver indicated he was going to call police, the Avalanche driver sped off, she said.

The vehicle was northbound on Riverside and trying to turn west on Lancaster when the driver lost control and veered into the front corner of the store.

“Witnesses say that the driver of the gray SUV was going between 80 and 100 miles per hour when he lost control of his car,” Knight said.

Workers from a nearby construction crew reportedly helped cut electricity to the store because of the dangers posed by arcing electrical lines, she said.

Staff writer Monica Nagy contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 31, 2015 at 2:18 PM with the headline "1 killed, 5 inside store injured when SUV plows through wall."