GASTONIA, N.C. -- A busy Gastonia intersection is back open after it was shut down for a deadly police chase.
"I got a call that it was all over Facebook that police was chasing someone down Franklin," said Barbara Meeks, a Gastonia resident.
According to Gastonia Police, officers responded to a reported larceny in progress at a Target store just before 5 p.m. Officers were given the license plate information and a vehicle description of a grey Nissan Altima that the suspects were seen leaving in.
Police say the driver, 38-year-old Thomas Kirkland of Gastonia, accelerated onto east Franklin Boulevard driving westbound in the eastbound lanes. He then crossed back into the eastbound lanes to pass stopped vehicles at the New Hope Road intersection before crashing head-on with a 2014 Dodge Avenger.
It was a tragic ending to what Meeks described.
Officials say that the Dodge was being driven by 64-year-old Donald Curtis, a Gastonia resident. The passenger in Kirkland's vehicle, identified as Deborah Patterson, 62, of Bessemer City, was taken to Caromont Regional Medical Center, where she died as a result of her injuries. Police say that Kirkland, Curtis and another passenger, Patricia Curtis, were taken to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
"It's real scary for anybody to hear it, I mean family wouldn't want to hear anything like that, I mean nobody wants to get that bad news," said Meeks.
Kirkland has been charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle, felony flee to elude arrest, careless and reckless driving, failure to stop for a stop light, left of center, speeding, driving while license revoked for impaired driving, and felony larceny.
Saturday's crash marked the second deadly police pursuit in 24 hours. One person was killed in a crash while being pursued by police in Charlotte on Friday. Dashcam video showed the moments before it came to a tragic halt. The person behind the wheel was just 20 years old.
"One person's gone," said Robin Parker, a Gastonia resident. "It broke my heart."
Robin Parker didn't witness what happened either, but just seeing the aftermath tugged at her heartstrings. Holding her daughter's hand, Robin watched police investigate.
"It's a life," said Parker. "It was somebody's baby regardless of the age it was somebody's baby."