MESA, Ariz. — UPDATE: Kevin McKinney was released from the hospital this week and booked into the Maricopa County jail on several felony charges.
A man wanted on a homicide charge is accused of trying to get away from police Sunday afternoon, but he ended up driving straight into a Mesa pizza place with employees and a customer inside.
Mesa police shot the man who is expected to survive.
The 36-year-old suspect, Kevin McKinney, is accused of murdering a man in Albuquerque on Saturday after a dispute related to an attempted firearm purchase, according to officials in New Mexico.
McKinney was also wanted on a felony warrant out of Colorado.
“I was right here," said Ryan White, an employee at Jimmy and Joe's Pizzeria. “I mean it’s crazy.”
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Ryan White was working Sunday afternoon when he heard the commotion outside the restaurant's window near Dobson and Baseline.
“I think it was five SWAT members," White said. "They were undercover. And they were walking up. They had AR-15s.”
Officers with guns drawn were approaching McKinney who was parked in an SUV right outside.
“And then all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom, and I hit the ground," White said.
His co-workers and a customer also ducked for cover.
“I look over the counter and I see the guy. He puts it in drive and just goes straight through," White said.
That's when White said the suspect drove straight through the front of Jimmy and Joe's Pizzeria and crashed into a booth as police fired shots.
McKinney was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive.
Police say no officers or citizens were hurt.
“It hit me after because I was like, man, I could've really died today," White said.
On Monday, the pizzeria was back open with cardboard covering the destroyed window and the front door was riddled with bullet holes.
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