Walmart Reopens After Truck Drives Through its Aisles

UPDATE 6/28/2018 10:00 a.m.  The Walmart on Sherwood Way has reopened for business after last night's truck driving through the doors. 

The driver has not been identified yet since his arrest last night.  The pickup rammed the doors and drove all the way to the cereal aisle, isle 8 before turning around and driving back out the same way.  

No one in the store was injured.  Workers Thursday morning were cleaning up the aisle and restocking the shelves.  The doors should be replaced today and all the damage repaired.  

WATCH: The scene during the aftermath of the pickup truck driving through Walmart at around 2 a.m. Thursday morning, June 28:
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SAN ANGELO, TX — The Walmart on Sherwood Way in San Angelo resembled a war zone after an apparent vehicle-ramming attack. As of 1 a.m. Thursday morning, police blocked all entrances to the Walmart parking lot. Law enforcement activity was heavy.

As our reporter approached the scene, a Walmart employee waved him away. “Are you media? You are not allowed on our property!” she yelled. Police were ordered to push all media away from the property. There were around 20 employees standing around in the parking lot. With police blocking every entrance, the stream of flashing lights of police vehicles, and the visible damage to the front of Walmart and in the parking lot, our first hand observation received from our reporter at the scene was, "It's like a war zone out here!"

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A witness, Amy Clafin, was in the store when what she described as a man driving a full-sized red pickup rammed its way through the entrance on the east side of the store. “A man drove his red truck through the bakery section and into the store. Not by accident.... totally intentional. He burned his tires for several minutes as the customers and employees tried to escape,” she stated. The pickup driver was able to plow down the large, concrete-filled pillars meant to prevent an incident like this.

She posted pictures on Facebook offering a close-up glimpse of the carnage left behind. Clafin said all of the doors were locked, trapping customers inside after the man in the red pickup drove away from the store. “Finally an employee opened the wall where the baskets are kept and we were able to escape. I don't think anyone was hurt,” she stated. At 10 p.m. the west side doors are typically locked leaving doors near where the bakery and produce sections are located behind the self-checkout lanes. That is where the red pickup made its entrance.

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From our observation and from listening to the radio, San Angelo EMS responded to the scene, but left soon after arriving, No one was injured or treated by EMS based upon our observation.

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Above: The red pickup that police have surrounded near the gas pumps at Walmart at 5501 Sherwood Way. (LIVE! Photo/John Basquez)

Police arrived very soon after the man in the red pickup truck drove back out of the store. His truck was observed at the Murphy gas station in the Walmart parking lot. The truck’s front end was damaged. We cannot see anyone in custody of police, but from our far away observation point we cannot see into the back of the police cars near the gas pumps.

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Above: Vehicle-ramming attack on Walmart at 5501 Sherwood Way in San Angelo (Contributed/Amy Clafin)

“Whew! My blood pressure is topping out about now!” Clafin said after she was able to get out of the store. "That manager was pushing us through real quick too...Oh my God!. It was crazy! There was a lady that was stocking by the pharmacy and we heard the initial crash. I thought a shelf fell over or something. 

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Above: Vehicle-ramming attack on Walmart at 5501 Sherwood Way in San Angelo (Contributed/Amy Clafin)

"We walked out in the main aisle to see what was happening and you could see the back of his red truck burning rubber and black smoke everywhere inside the store," Clafin said. "Then all the male employees started running toward the truck and everyone was telling them to stay away because 'he could have a gun'....Oh my God! We started running toward the garden center," she said. "The store was locked with no way out so we all started running back towards the front of the store by the optical center. The employees were trying to open those doors and they couldn't get them open, so we thought we were trapped because we could still hear him crashing into things. Finally one of the guys started moving baskets out of the way, and we ran under that half wall where the baskets are stored."

By 2 a.m., police were putting up crime scene tape around certain areas of the Walmart property. Sgt. Antoine Callum with the San Angelo Police Department indicated the incident would not be characterized as an act of terror. 

Update 3:10 a.m.

Witnesses told police he was revving the truck and burning rubber before hitting the building and crashing through the front doors.

San Angelo Police Detective Richard Cercone said as they arrived, they observed the pickup exiting the store. Police initiated a traffic stop on the subject in the Walmart parking lot. “He was taken into custody without incident,” Cercone said.

The man was able to drive the pickup through the front doors, past the bakery and the produce sections, to the rear near the cereal aisle, police said. Then he turned the truck around and drove back out the way he arrived initially. “Luckily no one was near that area inside the store,” Cercone said.

Cercone does not yet know what the man’s motive was. The suspect sustained injuries and was rushed to Shannon Medical Center in an ambulance. Police said at a minimum he is facing charges for criminal mischief. More charges are possible, as police complete their investigation. The man is so far unnamed will be booked into the Tom Green County Jail. Cercone identified the truck as a Ram 2500 or larger pickup with a grill guard.

Walmart will be closed at least until police complete their investigation. "At this moment ,the investigation will take about another hour or two and as far as Walmart being open there is a lot of damage they have to look into," Cercone said. Walmart had not issued a statement as of 3:20 a.m.

Other than the injuries sustained by the driver of the red pickup, there were no injuries.