EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A suspect accidentally shot himself after the car he was driving crashed into another car Friday afternoon in East St. Louis, killing two people inside, authorities said.
The incident happened at 2:19 p.m. on Bond Avenue at South 36th Street near the city's border with Cahokia Heights.
An Illinois State Police spokesperson said a Cahokia Heights police cruiser was pursuing a vehicle that was speeding westbound in the eastbound lanes of Bond Avenue. The speeding car crashed into another car that was pulling into a driveway, killing both people inside.
The suspect then got out of his car and ran from police. An officer who chased after the suspect watched him pull out a gun, police said.
A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation initially said the man was shot by officers after an exchange of gunfire. State police said in its statement that the suspect accidentally shot himself after pulling out his gun.
The suspect was taken to an area hospital, where he was listed in critical condition, according to the source.
Relatives of the woman who was driving the car the suspect's car crashed into identified her as 60-year-old Marilyn Hill. Willie Buford, who was a passenger in her car, also died.
Hill, who lived in Cahokia Heights about 4 miles from where the crash happened, had a 17-year-old daughter, family members said.
One minute Errol Allen says he was driving to a supermarket in cahokia heights.
But out of the blue, he saw flashing lights and fast-moving police cars in hot pursuit of a man in a burgundy Ford Fusion on Bond Avenue.
"It was an active police chase," Allen said. "It was fast.... I'm going toward Missouri Avenue and they almost ran me off the road."
Shortly after, the Fusion hit Hill's silver Honda Civic.
"We just can't believe it," said Audrey Crymes, Hill's aunt. "...It's just unbelievable. I can't believe she's gone, like I said that was like a sister, not a niece."
The family was also mourning Buford, who was a long-time family friend.
"He was just like a brother to us," said Vanessa Crymes, another aunt of Hill's. "My mom looked at him as another one of her children."
Robert Hill, Hill's uncle, said he witnessed the crash.
"After the impact he got out and start running and I was watching him run in between houses," he said, "and the last house he run down, the police were behind him and I heard a pop and I seen him go down."
"It's shocking," Vanessa Crymes said. "Very devastating over this. People are continuously flying down Bond Avenue."
The crash remains under investigation by state police.