SUV rams into crowd at bus stop, at least 7 killed

At least seven people were killed and several others were injured at the weekend, when a car rammed into pedestrians in Brownsville, Texas. A male suspect is in custody, and charged with reckless driving. Local reports say more charges are to follow.

Brownsville police investigator, Lieutenant Martin Sandoval says the incident happened at about 8:30 AM local time on Sunday. It occurred at a bus stop near the Ozanam Centre, a shelter for migrants and the homeless.

The bus stop is across the street from the shelter and has no markings or a bench. The victims were waiting, sitting along the curb, says Victor Maldonado, the director of the Ozanam Center. He reviewed the shelter’s surveillance video after receiving the call about the crash:

What we see in the video is that this SUV, a Range Rover, just ran the light that was about 100 feet [30 metres] away and just went through the people who were sitting there in the bus stop

A Texas hate crime or reckless driving

Police say investigations have not yet revealed if the act was intentional. “It can be three factors. It could be intoxication; it could be an accident; or it could be intentional. In order for us to find out exactly what happened, we have to eliminate the other two,” Sandoval said.

Sandoval says some migrants were among the dead. The suspect is a Hispanic man. He is under 24-hour guard, and receiving medical treatment at a local hospital:

He’s being very uncooperative at the hospital, but he will be transported to our city jail as soon as he gets released, Then we’ll fingerprint him and [take a] mug shot, and then we can find his true identity

Brownsville lies on the border with Mexico. It is one of the places that expects an influx of migrants once the Covid restrictions under Title 42 expire this week, on Thursday.

The Ozanam shelter is the only overnight shelter in the city, and manages the release of thousands of migrants and refugees from federal custody.

Maldonado says the centre has been receiving threats following the crash. “I’ve had a couple of people come by the gate and tell the security guard that the reason this happened was because of us,” Maldonado said.