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Police shoot pickup truck driver who mowed down cyclists at Bike the Bluff

Six bicyclists are in critical condition after a pickup truck slammed into a road race in Show Low, Arizona. The driver fled the scene, and was later shot by police

Police shoot pickup truck driver who mowed down cyclists at Bike the Bluff

Show Low Police said four of the six were in critical condition and two were in critical but stable condition after the incident, including one who was airlifted from the scene.

Two or three other victims walked into the hospital and are in stable condition.

The driver of the truck, a black Ford Super Duty F150 pickup, struck the bicyclists during the Bike the Bluff race at about 7:25 a.m. local time, the police said.

He driver drove his truck directly and intentionally into a group of cyclists

Officers tried to stop the driver, which “ultimately led to the suspect being shot,” behind an ACE Hardware in the city - near 3rd Drive and Oliver - several blocks west of the crash site.

The driver, a 35-year-old man, was in critical but stable condition, the police said.

The driver fled the scene, and was later shot by police

Tony Quinones, 55, of Santa Fe, N.M., said he had been riding for about six minutes with other cyclists ages 55 and over when a black pickup that had been driving in the opposite direction crossed over three lanes and headed toward the cyclists.

He assumed the driver was turning into a parking lot. Instead, he said, the driver plowed directly into the cyclists who had been ahead of Mr. Quinones in what he described as a targeted attack.

“I don’t know who the heck this guy is, or what his motive was,” Mr. Quinones said, “But he intentionally did not go left into a parking lot. He drove his truck directly and intentionally into our group, and you could hear him accelerate until he hit that telephone pole.”

He said he had seen "Bikes and bodies flying. After the driver hit a telephone pole", he said, "cyclists ran up to the truck and started pounding on the windows, screaming at the driver to get out."

The Show Low Police Department, the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office and the Arizona Dept. of Public Safety are investigating. Show Low is about three hours northeast of Phoenix.

“Our community is shocked at this incident and our hearts and prayers are with the injured and their families at this time,” Show Low Police said in a statement.

cyclists ran up to the truck and started pounding on the windows, screaming at the driver to get out.