Victims, driver identified in deadly crash at Iowa Walmart
Published 6:15 pm Friday, December 2, 2016
- Walmart accident - Dec 1 2016
PELLA, Iowa — Police in Iowa have released the names of the three killed and two injured Thursday morning when a Ford F-150 pickup truck crashed through the doors of a Walmart Supercenter.
Carrie Zugg, 31, and Lindsey Rietveld, 29, both employees, and Ruth Jean DeJong, 76, a shopper, were all killed in the accident.
Shopper Robert DeJong, 77, was injured along with Dennis Mockenhaupt, 66, the driver of the truck.
Residents of Pella — a community of 10,000 residents 40 miles southeast of Des Moines — have been shaken since the accident, filling church pews to pray for the victims. A candlelight vigil is scheduled for Friday night in the store parking lot.
Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Nathan Ludwig said officers were called to the store just before 10 a.m. on Dec. 1, responding to reports that a truck had driven through store’s entrance.
One cement pillar that was designed to protect the entrance from vehicles was completely destroyed, with rubble laying in shambles in front of the entry way. The entrance to the store was also heavily damaged, as the frame holding the automatic doors hung loosely in the doorway. Law enforcement officers and rescue crews dodged the hanging material as they began rescuing patrons.
Ludwig said that law enforcement does not believe the accident was intentional, but it is still under investigation.
The truck was reported to have hit the store entrance at a high rate of speed, Ludwig added.
The entire store was evacuated, including Walmart staff and shoppers, out the store’s undamaged door. All available law enforcement and emergency rescue personnel in the area were called to the scene.
Danielle Barrows, a shift leader at a nearby Taco Bell, said she had gone into the Walmart store before her shift to buy wrapping paper and a present for her daughter. She said she could have been one of the victims hit by the truck.
“I made a purchase and I was going to leave, but I decided to go to the bathroom first. As soon as I shut the the stall door I heard a loud noise. I thought maybe someone had dropped something in the back room,” Barrows said. “I came out and saw glass everywhere. I saw two people that were injured and laying on the ground. I looked to my left and saw the truck crashed on the produce aisle of the store.”
Barrows said after she came out of the bathroom, Walmart staff members began ushering her and other customers out of the store.
Dave Harbey said he was driving into work for his shift at a nearby car wash. He managed to be one of the last drivers to get into the parking lot entrance before law enforcement officials closed all entries into the store.
“Pella’s usually a sleepy town. Nothing much happens around here,” Harbey said.
Police are continuing their investigation behind the damaged entryway, covered with a blue tarp, as residents from neighboring counties drive through the parking lot to see the scene of the crash.
This story originally appeared in the Pella, Iowa Chronicle.