<span>Tom was attempting to flee from jail when he was killed. He was shot during his escape attempt. After he was shot, he still tried to flee by scaling a fence, which did not pan out in his favor. Atticus' explanation of this was that he was under the impression that Tom did this on purpose. Atticus thought that Tom was so upset over being controlled by the white powers that be that he put himself in that position to be killed.</span>
