Walmart incident results in one fatality, driver arrested

Mar. 15—Walmart of Thomasville reopened today after a fatal incident occurred on Wednesday morning.

The incident was not believed to be an accident, according to Georgia State Patrol Sgt. 1st Class John VanLandingham

"There was a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed in the Walmart parking lot," VanLandingham said. "The vehicle then veered right and drove through the barriers and into the store."

The Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team (SCRT) worked to determine the exact path the vehicle traveled.

"They're going to go in depth and pull the computer out of the vehicle and see how fast they were traveling," VanLandingham said. "They can pin all that down."

VanLandingham did confirm the accident resulted in one fatality, but has not heard of any confirmed injuries.

"There were secondhand injuries, such as traumas from shoppers who were in the area when the fatality happened," VanLandingham said.

The driver, Khalil Amarion Pugh been arrested and GSP is currently investigating the cause of him veering off to the right.

"Right now, there are different witnesses who will say different things, but we are doing a search warrant on him and will take blood samples to see if he was impaired," he said. "Any time there is a fatality, we always go the extra mile to see if that person was intoxicated or anything like that."

The family of the victim has been notified and troopers plan to use video footage and eye witnesses to bring justice to the tragic situation.