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Armed man shot by police at King of Prussia Mall

The man, whose name has not been released, tried to mow down officers with a stolen vehicle in the second floor of a garage that leads to the Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom department stores.

Upper Merion police respond to a parking garage at the King of Prussia Mall after officers shot an armed carjacking suspect who tried to mow them down in a stolen vehicle on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017.
Upper Merion police respond to a parking garage at the King of Prussia Mall after officers shot an armed carjacking suspect who tried to mow them down in a stolen vehicle on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017.Read moreNIK HATZIEFSTATHIOU / YC.NEWS

Upper Merion police say they shot a suspect in a string of recent gunpoint holdups as he tried to mow down officers with a stolen vehicle Sunday in a parking garage at the King of Prussia Mall.

Investigators had tracked the man, whose name has not been released, to the second floor of a garage that leads to the Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom department stores on the shopping complex's south side just before 4 p.m.

But when they approached the SUV he was driving — a maroon 2012 Kia Sorento — he sped off, intentionally ramming two police squad cars and aiming for officers attempting to pursue him on foot, Upper Merion Police Chief Thomas Nolan said.

"I do not know specifically how our detectives learned he was up there, but they were advised that he was most likely in the garage," Nolan said.

Investigators remained tight-lipped Sunday evening on some details of the shooting, including how many officers fired their weapons and how many shots were fired.

But Nolan said more than one officer had fired at the man, who was later taken to Paoli Hospital suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. His condition as of late Sunday evening remained unclear.

Nolan also declined to release the man's name, citing the ongoing investigation. Though he said that the man had been linked to three other violent crimes – including a gunpoint holdup in the same mall parking garage a day before the shooting.

In that episode, police said, at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, he robbed a woman at gunpoint as she entered her vehicle. The suspect jumped in the rear seat of her vehicle, put a gun to the woman's head, and demanded her purse, before fleeing in the same Sorento in which he was found Sunday.

Investigators said they believe he stole the SUV on Friday in a carjacking, robbery and kidnapping of an 87-year-old man in Claymont, Del.

New Castle County police have said that the suspect in that case forced his way into his victim's vehicle while it was parked in his driveway just before 10 a.m. The suspect drove the man around for several minutes at gunpoint before dropping him off near I-95 and fleeing with the SUV.

Investigators believe that just one night earlier, the same suspect had attempted to take a set of car keys from another victim in Wilmington, and fired twice into the lobby of an apartment building as the person fled inside.

Though detectives in Delaware have identified the carjacker involved in both of those crimes as Kalin Jackson, 23, of New Castle, Del., Upper Merion police would not confirm Sunday night that Jackson was the man officers shot in the mall parking garage.

Upper Merion police said a 9mm handgun was recovered from the driver's seat of the stolen vehicle on Sunday. They said that in the three previous robberies, the suspect was also known to be armed with a 9mm handgun.

Montgomery County detectives continue to investigate Sunday's shooting. As per department policy, the officers involved have been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation, Nolan said.

In a statement, mall officials thanked the Upper Merion police for their "swift action."

"The situation was contained, the suspect apprehended and no customers or employees were harmed," it read.