Seven people killed as car hits crowd at bus stop in Texas

Seven people have been killed after a car ploughed into a crowd at a bus stop by a migrant shelter in the Texas border city of Brownsville[1]. Another four to six people were injured, in what police believe was a deliberate act. Local police chief Martin Sandoval said the driver has been arrested and accused of reckless driving.

Other charges are expected to follow. The incident happened at about 8:30 local time outside the Ozanam Centre, which serves homeless people. The shelter's director, Victor Maldonado, said there was no bench, and people waiting there were sitting along the curb, adding that victims were Venezuelan men.

"What we see in the video is that this SUV, a Range Rover, just ran the light that was about a hundred feet away and just went through the people who were sitting there in the bus stop," Maldonado said. Raul Brindis, a Mexican radio show host, tweeted that the police were still trying to ascertain how many of those killed and injured were migrants. The driver was also undergoing drug and alcohol tests.

Women were praying

A woman on the scene said she saw several bodies on the road and a victim being put into an ambulance.

Other women were seen praying. Brownsville is on the border, about two miles from the Mexican city of Matamoros[2]. The Ozanam Centre was established by the Diocese of Brownsville to house Central American political refugees.

It is used as a short-term emergency centre where residents normally stay for up to 30 days. Brownsville has been one of the centres for migrants crossing the Rio Grande[3] in recent weeks. According to the Washington Examiner, more than 10,000 people have been picked up by border agents in the past week.

It has put additional pressure on the centre, which normally holds around 250 people. "In the last two months, we've been getting 250 to 380 a day," Mr Maldonado said.

Brownsville, along with Laredo and El Paso[4] have declared a state of emergency.

Pressure on the border is expected to increase with the end of Title 42 - a Trump-era policy that allowed for the summary expulsion of migrants on health grounds.

References

1. ^ Brownsville (www.telegraph.co.uk)
2. ^ Matamoros (www.telegraph.co.uk)
3. ^ Rio Grande (www.telegraph.co.uk)
4. ^ El Paso (www.telegraph.co.uk)