Seven killed after car rams into people near Texas migrant shelter
SUV driver 'intentionally plows into crowd outside a Texas migrant and homeless shelter - killing at least seven and injuring 11 others
- Police have arrested the driver following the horrific crash on Saturday morning
- The Range Rover SUV is believed to have 'intentionally' plowed into pedestrians outside the Ozanam Center in Texas at 8.20am on Saturday
- WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
By Melissa Koenig[1] and Claudia Aoraha, Senior Reporter For Dailymail.Com[2]
Published: 18:06, 7 May 2023 | Updated: 21:03, 7 May 2023
At least seven people have been killed and multiple were left injured after a car struck a group of people outside a migrant shelter in Brownsville, Texas[3].
The Range Rover SUV is believed to have 'intentionally' plowed into pedestrians waiting at a bus stop outside the Ozanam Center at 8.20am on Saturday.
Police have arrested the driver following the horrific scenes in the border town and the FBI and Border Patrol agents have been brought in to investigate.
He has been charged with reckless driving, but authorities say more charges may follow after the pending investigation is complete.
Footage from the aftermath showed multiple injured people lying on the ground in bloodied clothing while emergency services rushed to the scene.
Police are pictured loading a body bag onto a stretcher as they responded to the fatal crash in Brownsville Sunday morning
Emergency personnel are pictured investigating the scene of the fatal crash
Video posted online of the crash showed a gray SUV topple over a crowd sitting on the curb
Shelter director Victor Maldonado said the car hit the group waiting by the bus stop, as well as a few others walking about 30 feet away
The suspect is seen sitting on the ground with his hands behind his back before being taken into a police car.
A witness stands by, looking on at the scenes in Brownsville, Texas
The suspect is currently in hospital being treated for injuries, but he is under police watch. Investigators are also probing whether he was under the influence at the time of the fatal crash.
Video circulating online which appears to show the fatal collision shows the SUV running up the curb where a group of men were sitting at a bus stop, toppling them over one-by-one.
'What we see in the video is that this SUV just ran the red light and was about 100 feet away and just went through the people who were sitting in the bus stop,' shelter director Victor Maldonado told the Associated Press[4].
The SUV then apparently flipped over after running up the curb and continued moving for about 200 feet, striking others who were walking on the sidewalk about 30 feet away from where the group was sitting.
Footage from the scene also showed police arresting a man sitting on the ground - who was not wearing a shirt - outside the homeless migrant shelter.
Authorities say he is a Hispanic male who is a resident of Brownsville.
The Range Rover that was driven by the suspect. It plowed into a group of people who were standing at a bus stop outside the homeless center for migrants
Police arrested the suspect, who was driving the car, following the deaths of seven people in the border town
The intersection remained closed off in the aftermath as authorities, in partnership with the FBI and Border Patrol, worked to investigate the crash
FBI agents are pictured at the scene of the crash in Brownsville on Saturday
Among those who were injured is Luis Herrera, who said he and his friends were waiting to go to the airport when they were struck.
It is understood that the group was congregating near the bus stop at the time.
A number of his friends were killed, he told NBC 4[5], and he was injured on the right side of his body.
Eleven people injured in the crash were taken to local hospitals, the Brownsville Fire Department announced on Facebook.
One was also airlifted to Valley Baptist Medical Center in nearby Harlingen.
The victims' conditions are not currently known.
A body is seen on the ground after a car rammed into a group of people outside the migrant homeless shelter on the border town
Police have arrested the driver following the horrific scenes this morning.
At least seven people have died, while multiple others were transported to hospital
The Land Rover SUV is believed to have 'intentionally' plowed into pedestrians outside the Ozanam Center at 8.20am on Saturday.
Multiple victims were seen on the ground following the incident
The Ozanam center is a homeless shelter that serves individuals and families in the area - and because it sits right on the US-Mexico border, many of its clients are migrants.
Lt.
Martin Sandoval announced that the driver was charged with reckless driving - and confirmed that it was looking like an intentional act.
But Maldonado said the center has not received any threats in the past, though it has started to in the aftermath of the crash.
'I've had a couple of people come by the gate and tell the security guard that the reason that this happened was because of us,' he said.
Maldonado added that most of the men who were struck were Venezuelan men.
It is unclear how many of the victims were migrants, and a motive has not yet been established.
The Ozanam center is a homeless shelter that serves individuals and families in the area - and because it sits right on the US-Mexico border, many of its clients are migrants
Footage taken during the aftermath showed multiple bloodied people on the ground
The crash comes as the city of Brownsville is dealing with an influx of migrants.
Last month, the city issued a disaster declaration after 15,000 migrants -- mostly from Venezuela -- crossed over in a single week, overwhelming border security.
In a normal week, only about 2,000 migrants attempt to cross at Brownsville.
Tensions flared amid the uptick in migration last month, when some tents housing the immigrants were set ablaze and destroyed.
Some migrants blamed cartel-backed gangs, but a government official suggested the fires may have been set by a group of migrants who were frustrated by their long wait into the country.
The situation may also get worse in the coming week, with the end of Title 42 on Thursday.
The COVID-era policy allowed border agents to send migrants back to Mexico.
References
- ^ Melissa Koenig (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Claudia Aoraha, Senior Reporter For Dailymail.Com (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Texas (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Associated Press (www.chicagotribune.com)
- ^ NBC 4 (www.valleycentral.com)