GREELEY — Two women were killed and a 9-year-old boy was injured Saturday afternoon when a pickup smashed into a store at the Greeley Mall.
Capt. Juan Cruz said Greeley police do not think the driver, a 19-year-old from Evans, intentionally crashed through the front of the Visionworks store about 2:30 p.m. And police don’t think drugs or alcohol was a factor.
The women were identified Saturday night as Kimberly Fletcher, 32, of Greeley and Jennifer Hudgens, 23, a University of Northern Colorado student from Pueblo.
Hudgens was a store employee. Fletcher, a customer, was the mother of the injured boy.
The boy was cut by the flying glass and was treated at North Colorado Medical Center. The driver also was taken to the hospital and was reported to be in good condition.
In an interview with 9News, Mike Patterson, who was inside the store when the pickup hit, said it sounded like a bomb went off.
“I honestly thought it was a bomb,” he told the television station. “That was the first thing I thought of. It exploded, and I saw all this debris coming at me, and so I just ran for the closest exit door.
“I saw a little boy standing there, and he was bleeding on his arms, and I pulled him out of the store real fast,” he said.
One of the victims died at the scene, and one was declared dead at a hospital.
Police told The Greeley Tribune that the driver seemed to be accelerating when he hit the building, although authorities don’t know why. A witness told the newspaper the Chevrolet pickup was traveling at 30 to 40 mph.
Cruz said police were trying to determine the driver’s condition at the time of the crash. He said that, as of Saturday night, there was no indication that any charges would be filed.
The Greeley Tribune contributed to this report.
