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By DAVE DOMESCIK | Staff Writer

CALERA – A man was arrested after he led multiple Shelby County police agencies on a chase in the Calera area on the evening of Saturday, Jan. 11.

According to a post from the Calera Police Department’s Facebook page, the suspect was initially pursued by the Alabaster Police Department before he entered the Calera area, where Calera PD then stepped in to assist the chase.

In addition to the apprehension of the suspect, a wreck was caused by the chase that shut down Interstate 65, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Before being apprehended, the suspect fled on foot. He was caught approximately 0.5 miles from the crash scene. The suspect refused medical treatment before being turned over to Alabaster PD.

“The suspect lost control of his vehicle on George Roy Parkway near Nottingham Drive,” the post read. “The vehicle ended up in someone’s backyard, damaging a guardrail and the citizen’s privacy fence and AC unit.”

Two people were killed in the crash, one another suspect who was evading law enforcement and the other an innocent motorist. The deceased were identified as 21-year-old Elias Trejo Andino of Homewood, the suspect, and 22-year-old Tyrek Howard of Helena.

Jazmine A. Davis of Montevallo was a passenger in Howard’s vehicle at the time of the accident. She was taken to UAB Hospital with critical injuries.

Andino was driving a Chevrolet Camaro that rammed into Howard’s Nissan Altima. After the initial impact, Andino’s Camaro flipped and he was ejected from the vehicle. Andino was not using a seat belt at the time of the crash.

Howard was also not using a seat belt at the time of the accident, and his vehicle left the roadway and struck several trees before he too was ejected.

Andino and Howard were pronounced dead on the scene, with the accident occurring on I-65 northbound at mile marker 243, near the Cahaba Valley Road exit. The crash occurred around 8:30 p.m.

Calera’s chief of police, David Hyche, gave comment on the general dangers of evading police.

“When a suspect chooses to flee the police they choose to place themselves, the community and law enforcement in danger,” Hyche said. “This was not our pursuit last night but we in Shelby County will always be there to help our neighboring agencies.”

No further information, including the identity of the apprehended suspect, is available at this time. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, ALEA and Alabaster police are currently handling the investigation.