Driver Rams cyclists at Arizona race, 6 people: N.P.R.

Police say a driver of a pickup truck plows into a two-wheeler competing in a community road race in Arizona and injures several riders. Authorities say the driver was chased Saturday and shot outside a nearby hardware store.

White Mountain Freedom via Jim Headley / AB

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White Mountain Freedom via Jim Headley / AB

Police say a driver of a pickup truck plows and injures several riders during a two-wheeler race at a community road race in Arizona. Authorities say the driver was chased Saturday and shot outside a nearby hardware store.

White Mountain Freedom via Jim Headley / AB

Show Low, Aris. (AP) – A biker truck plowed into two-wheelers during a community road race in Arizona on Saturday, injuring several riders before police chased the driver and shot him outside a nearby hardware store, officials said.

Police say six people have been taken to hospital in critical condition following an accident in the mountain town of Show Low, a three-hour drive northeast of Phoenix. Helmet, shoes and Crushed and broken bicycles Were spread across the street after the crash, and a tire was plugged into the truck’s grille, causing damage to its top and sides and a bullet hole in a window.

Two more people were taken to a hospital, city spokeswoman Grace Payne said, adding that one of the seriously injured was later airlifted to the Phoenix Area Hospital by medical helicopter.

The suspect, a 35-year-old man, was admitted to the hospital in critical but stable condition.

“We don’t know the motivation,” Payne told the Associated Press. “We know he ran away from there.”

Broken bicycles sit at Show Low, Ariz, after a pickup truck driver plows into a two-wheeler competing in a community road race in Arizona on Saturday.

White Mountain Freedom via Jim Headley / AB

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White Mountain Freedom via Jim Headley / AB

Broken bicycles sit at Show Low, Ariz, after a pickup truck driver plows into a two-wheeler competing in a community road race in Arizona on Saturday.

White Mountain Freedom via Jim Headley / AB

Police say a Ford pickup truck hit cyclists around 7:25 a.m. in the town of Show Low during the annual 58 miles (93 kilometers). Bike the Bluff Race, then fled. Officers chased the driver and tried to stop him before he was shot, officers said.

Payne said the driver did not comply when authorities tried to arrest him, but the circumstances of the shooting were not immediately released. The identity of the suspect and the victim are also unknown.

Officials said there were 270 participants in the race.

“Our community is shocked by this incident and our hearts and prayers are with the injured and their families at this time,” police spokeswoman Christine Sleater said in a statement.

The Navajo County Sheriff’s Office and the Arizona Department of Public Safety assisted in the investigation. The U.S. 60, the city’s main street that winds its way through the White Mountains, was closed in the area.