Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Friday afternoon released the names of those persons who died and were injured when a pickup truck crashed into the Pella Wal-Mart Store, Thursday morning. Authorities say at around 9:54-a.m., a silver Ford F-150 pickup truck crashed through the Market and Pharmacy entrance of the Walmart store in Pella and killed three people.
The Pella Police Department, Pella Fire and EMS, Iowa State Patrol and other law enforcement agencies responded to the crash scene. Upon arriving at the scene, it was determined that three people were killed and two were injured in the crash, one of those injured is the driver of the truck. The conditions of the two injured are not known at this time.
Those who died in the crash were identified as 31-year old Carrie Zugg, a Walmart employee from Leighton, IA, 29-year old Lindsey Rietveld, a Walmart employee from Bussey, IA, and 76-year old Ruth Jean DeJong, a shopper, from Pella. Injured in the crash was the driver of the pickup, 66-year old Dennis Mockenhaupt, from Knoxville, and 77-year old Robert DeJong, a shopper, from Pella.
Autopsies on the deceased individuals will be conducted next week at the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny. The investigation into the crash is on-going, and is being conducted by: the Pella Police Department; the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI); Iowa State Patrol (ISP); Pella Fire and EMS; Marion County Sheriff’s Office; Knoxville Police Department, and Knoxville Fire Department.