Cops: Man on the Run Smashes Into Car, Kills Mom, 2 Kids

A man fleeing Tennessee state troopers sped into a city intersection and slammed his truck into a car, killing a mother and her two young children, authorities said. The Tennessee Highway Patrol was chasing a truck driven by Michael Don Shepherd around 8am on Tuesday morning when Shepherd sped into the intersection in the city of Cookeville and struck a car driven by Amanda Chatman, the Cookeville Police Department said in a news release. Chatman, 24, and her 3- and 4-year-old sons were pronounced dead at the scene, police said, per the AP.

Shepherd suffered non-life-threatening injuries, per WKRN. "She was a very loving and caring mother of three," Chatman's sister tells the station. "She was a very hard worker, and those kids loved their mama." Cops say Shepherd, 25, has a long rap sheet across the state, including in Cheatham and Davidson counties. He was arrested, charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and evading arrest, and booked into a county jail. A GoFundMe has been set up to help out Chatman's family.

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