ASHLAND — Police in Ashland are still trying to determine the chain of events Thursday afternoon that ended with a car accident at the Chuck Woolery Boulevard entrance to Central Park.

Two were taken to local hospitals with injuries from the wreck, two more were being questioned by police and additional suspects were being sought by police at press time Thursday night.

Witnesses at the scene reported they saw two vehicles chasing one another on 17th Street, Hilton Avenue and Ashland Avenue before the accident.

Several also reported hearing a single gunshot shortly before the wreck in the vicinity of Hilton and Ashland avenues, but Ashland Police Maj. Todd Kelley could not confirm those details.

He said numerous area law enforcement agencies were searching for a 2001 silver Chrysler minivan and its occupants that fled the scene of the accident. He said it is believed the individuals in the van were involved in some sort of an altercation with those in the Chevrolet Lumina, which ultimately led to the accident. No arrests have been made in the case as of press time.

“We’re at the very, very preliminary stages of the investigation,” Kelley said.

According to multiple witnesses, the minivan was chasing the gray 1997 Chevrolet Lumina down Ashland Avenue shortly after 4:30 p.m. when the vehicles crossed into traffic at the road’s intersection with Lexington Avenue.

There, the Lumina collided with a maroon 2000 Buick LS driven by Kathy Eulett of Vanceburg. Eulett, 32, and her passenger, Tina Bailey, had just left KDMC and were driving toward 17th Street on Lexington Avenue when the accident occurred.

“I brought my friend up here to get an ultrasound (throat) done and we were just driving through here and we heard a pop right about that white house,” Eulett said, motioning to a home about four doors up from the intersection of Ashland and Lexington avenues.

“I looked at my friend and I said, ‘it sounded like a gunshot’ and then that car was just there. It came around a black truck and I just hit it. I didn’t mean to hit it,” Eulett said, still visibly shaken from wreck.

“I seen the front of the car — it was like slow motion — I tried to stop but there was nothing I could do. There was nothing I could do,” she said.

Bailey was transported by ambulance to King’s Daughters Medical Center. Eulett said she was complaining of chest pains and a neck injury from her seat belt.

A hospital spokesman said Bailey was treated and released Thursday night.

A passenger in the Lumina, identified as Jason Gullett, was also injured in the wreck. He was flown by helicopter to St. Mary’s Medical Center, where he was being treated for facial lacerations and a head injury.

A woman who answered the phone at St. Mary’s confirmed Gullett was being treated in the emergency department but could not comment on his condition.

The two others in the Lumina have been identified by first responders as Donald Tipton and Elizabeth Daniels. It was unclear who was driving.

Police could not confirm their identities, but Kelley said police were questioning the two uninjured occupants of the vehicle.

Tom Adams, director of Boyd County EMS, also said he heard a gunshot “just before the call came in” while sitting at an intersection of 17th Street. “We were sitting at the intersection when we heard the pop,” he said. “It was shortly thereafter calls started coming in.”

Another witness, William Porter, 52, reported seeing the Lumina and van speeding toward Hilton on 17th Street just before the wreck.

“We were going down this way and we saw this car and another car were flying, they were coming toward Lexington — they were flying. The other car must have been chasing this other car,” Porter said referring to the crashed Lumina, which had come to a rest sideways on Chuck Woolery facing 17th Street.

Jeremy Nethercutt, 20, of Ashland, was driving down Lexington with his mother, Deanna Nethercutt, to get gas at the Speedway when the accident occurred.

“She is a registered nurse. She has to get out of the car when she sees critical accidents. We were here when it was still smoking and the guy was on the ground. She got out to treat him. He was pretty bloodied up,” Jeremy Nethercutt said as he waited for police to process the scene and photograph his mother’s jacket, which she had taken off at the scene while helping to treat Gullett.

“They should find that van,” he added, saying one of his friends, who lives on Hilton and witnessed the accident, said she was almost struck by it.

Kelley said residents of Ashland should not be worried about additional violence stemming from the incident.

“I think under the circumstances our residents should feel secure there is no indication that this is a random act. It’s pretty obvious it’s a dispute where everybody knew each other and they were aware what they were doing and it was between them and their own vehicles,” he said.

“It’s very unfortunate that it had to end up at one of our prize jewels of the town. Fortunately there was no one walking down through here that was injured as a result of any debris or a vehicle that left the roadway,” Kelley said.

The accident shut down Lexington Avenue between 22nd and 17th streets and Ashland Avenue between Hilton and Lexington avenues for about 21/2 hours. The roadways were reopened shortly before 7 p.m. after the vehicles were removed.