Texas authorities arrested a man Sunday morning after he allegedly drove through a group of people waiting at a Brownsville bus stop, killing eight and injuring 10 more.
Brownsville Police Department Lt. Martin Sandoval told KRGV that the man, who has not yet been named, was charged with reckless driving but that more charges are likely. He denied a report that police believe the incident was intentional but said, “It is a factor that we have to look at.”
Later, however, he told Valley Central that investigators said it was “looking more like” an intentional act. He said the driver was injured in the crash and taken to a hospital, where he was also being checked for intoxication.
Sandoval also said the driver, who was Hispanic, has given investigators several different names and is being uncooperative, hindering the investigation.
“Now, we don’t know the actual cause of the accident. Like I said, it could be three different things. One, it could be intoxication. Two, it could be just an accidental one, or three, it could be intentional,” he said.
The incident took place across the street from the Bishop Endrique San Pedro Ozanam Center, a migrant shelter in the border city. Investigators are looking into whether the location played a role in the crash, and Sandoval said that at least some of the victims were migrants.
Victor Maldonado, director of the shelter, said that most of the victims were Venezuelan men. He said he viewed the shelter’s surveillance video of the incident.
“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, according to The Associated Press.
Maldonado also said some of the victims were walking on the street about 30 feet away from the bus stop. The SUV came to a stop 200 feet down the street.
One man who was at the bus stop, Luis Herrera, told Valley Central that the driver was “gesturing and insulting” the group.
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[Featured image: A damaged vehicle sits at the site of a deadly collision near a bus stop in Brownsville, Texas, on May 7, 2023. (Brian Svendsen/NewsNation/KVEO-TV via AP)]
