Police sources told WFAA that Donald Ingram led police on a chase, fired at officers, shot a female passenger in his car and then shot himself Monday afternoon.
DALLAS, Texas — Police sources surrounding the investigation into a wanted suspect who sparked a dangerous police chase through Richardson and Dallas before ultimately ending it via suicide Monday identified the suspect as Donald Ingram Tuesday afternoon.
Family members of Ingram’s wife, Michelle Ingram, say he was a suspect in her murder after she was found dead in their home early Monday morning.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner listed the 51-year-old as deceased on Tuesday and that her place of death was in Forney, where the pair lived.
The incident closed parts of the southbound service road along U.S. 75 near Esperanza for more than six hours as police worked the scene’s finish line.
Per Richardson’s police chief, a fire department arson investigator, who is also a sworn police officer, notified police when he saw Ingram’s vehicle in Richardson, which family members say belonged to Michelle and was reported missing when her body was found.
The chief said officers located Ingram driving the vehicle, followed him and tried to pull him over near 500 Centennial Boulevard. That’s when Ingram ignited a chase in an attempt to get away. During the chase, investigators say Ingram fired at officers who were in pursuit. At least one officer’s vehicle was hit, and they returned fire.
Investigators told WFAA that Ingram shot an adult female in the front passenger seat twice before turning the gun on himself, which made the car veer off the road and stop in the southbound frontage road near 13100 North Central Expressway.
The woman was taken to the hospital, and three children in the backseat, ages 5, 15, and 17, were transported too as a precaution.
The officer who opened fire has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting.
But family members of Michelle are now without answers as to why Ingram may have wanted to end her life. Her nephew, Ray Saffold, told WFAA at the scene that no one had heard from his aunt and that they had contacted Ingram about her whereabouts.
“I never thought he would do something like this,” Saffold said. “He was in her car, and now that he’s gone–we can’t get to the bottom of why he would kill her. Just a lot of unanswered questions.”
Saffold said Ingram told them she was fine on the phone, but something didn’t seem right. He and Michelle’s son broke into their house early Monday morning and found her body in a bedroom, then called the police.
“When I came into the room, I saw a blanket and something underneath it leaned against the closet door,” Saffold said. “I called her son to come in, and when he pulled the sheet–it was her. I started screaming–yelling. It was hard to see–very hard to see.”
He told WFAA that Michelle and Ingram were having marital issues and that she was working on filing for divorce.
Saffold told WFAA that Ingram spent ten years in the Texas prison system for a conviction of murder in Dallas County. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirmed to WFAA that Ingram spent ten years in prison for murder and aggravated assault from 1994 to 2003.
The murder offense was committed in September of 1991, and WFAA has been unable to locate precise court information regarding the case.
Saffold said his mother was killed by her boyfriend when he was just three. He told WFAA Michelle raised him as one of her own and that he couldn’t believe someone so careless would take someone so caring.
“She sees the good in you–no matter who you are. She has a big heart–she’s very caring. She’s the most loving person I’ve ever been around–and it hurts me that she’s not going to be in my life because that’s all I’ve had,” Saffold said.