TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A man accused of robbing a meat market with a gun is in critical condition after leading police on a chase in Tampa overnight.
Police say Rashad Hill robbed the Norr Meat Market on 40th Street North on Sunday and was considered “armed and dangerous.”
Just before midnight Tuesday, investigators got a tip that Hill was near the Tampa International Airport and still armed.
Plainclothes officers in unmarked cars saw Hill leaving the airport in a 1999 4-door Lexus. They deployed stop sticks and one of the car’s tires flattened, but Hill continued driving.
Police said a pursuit began after Hill reached North 42nd Street and East Idlewild Avenue and started driving aggressively. Seconds later, his Lexus hit a pole on 48th Street and Idlewild Avenue, and he ended up in a man’s yard.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, spoke with News Channel 8 on Wednesday.
“Of course I was scared, I never heard anything like that so close,” he recalled.
The man says he was awoken just after midnight by a loud bang and a car revving its engine.
“A vehicle hitting the pole and ending up here,” he said. “When it stopped the engine was revving like someone was mashing the accelerator several times and that went on for about three minutes.”
After that, he heard loud pops.
“Then all of a sudden I heard two little pop shots, something like a firecracker or a gun went off,” he said.
Police said Hill would not exit the vehicle despite multiple commands from officers. Once they entered his car, they found Hill “with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Hill was taken to an area hospital, where he is listed in critical condition.
Police did not say what charges Hill faces at this time.
The man is now getting help from a local lawn care company to fix his yard.
LATEST STORIES: