A large portion of southbound I-35 was closed from U.S. 183 into the downtown area in Austin because of police activity on Thursday morning, Aug. 13, 2026, Austin police said. A Texas DPS trooper fatally shot a man who allegedly stole an ambulance in Fort Worth and drove it to Austin.
TxDOT traffic camera
Much remains publicly unclear about how and why a man stole an ambulance in Fort Worth last week and drove it about 185 miles south to Austin, where a state trooper shot him to death on an interstate bridge.
Benjamin Collins, 26, of Fort Worth drove the ambulance, Texas Highway Patrol spokesperson Sgt. Jason Galaviz said on Monday.
The vehicle was stolen as early as 1:40 a.m. from Station 4, at 2954 Old Mansfield Road, according to a Fort Worth Police Department record.
The Fort Worth Fire Department has not responded to a reporter’s questions about the theft.
The Star-Telegram asked the department precisely where the ambulance was when it was stolen, what time it was stolen and what time it became clear to a Fire Department employee that it had been stolen.
The newspaper also asked in what way the suspect entered and operated the ambulance, whether it was locked at the time it was stolen and about GPS tracking.
A Fort Worth Professional Firefighters Association spokesperson said on Friday that the association had not been made aware of any disciplinary action the department had taken against the union’s members.
In response to questions about the theft, a Fort Worth police spokesperson directed a reporter to submit an open records request.
As troopers chased Collins on Interstate 35 on Thursday morning, he rammed the ambulance into vehicles, Galaviz said. The trooper shot Collins on the upper deck of I-35. Collins died at the scene.
The Texas Department of Public Safety was notified about 6:30 a.m. that the ambulance was in Williamson County and headed south on I-35, Galaviz said.
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Emerson Clarridge covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He works days and reports on law enforcement affairs in Tarrant County. He previously was a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald and the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York.