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At least eight people, mostly Venezuelan migrants, died this Monday, May 8, in Brownsville (Texas) after a driver crashed his car into a group of people at a bus stop in front of a shelter. The police, who arrested the driver of the vehicle, are investigating the case to determine if it was a deliberate act. From Caracas, the Government asked to clarify the causes of the event.
The victims were waiting at a bus stop outside a homeless shelter in Brownsville, Texas, when the driver rammed his pickup truck into them, surveillance video from the Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center shows. At least eight deaths were confirmed and a dozen injured.
According to the director of the center, Víctor Maldonado, the all-terrain vehicle got on the sidewalk before running over the people who were waiting.
“This SUV, a Range Rover, jumped the traffic light that was about 30 meters away and ran over the people who were sitting there at the bus stop,” Maldonado illustrated. The driver tried to run away, but the (downtown) residents caught up with him and detained him until the police arrived.
Most of the victims were Venezuelan men who had arrived at the shelter two or three days earlier, the center’s director added. Faced with the increase in migrants in this city, the center for the homeless welcomes many of them.
The Government of Venezuela described the incident as “tragic” and “painful” and expressed its “deepest regret” for the fatalities. In turn, he urged the corresponding US authorities “to thoroughly investigate the events and clarify their causes, in order to rule out any intentions related to hateful and xenophobic practices against the Venezuelan people that have been expressed in the past.”
These “practices” are “the product of a culture of violence and intolerance promoted by extremist sectors of US politics and society,” the Foreign Ministry said.
A deliberate act?
The police could not confirm the reason for the hit-and-run and suggested several hypotheses while the investigation is advancing.
Brownsville police investigator Martin Sandoval said there are three possible explanations for the crash: “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.” .
Regarding the driver, Sandoval said that “he is being very uncooperative in the hospital, but he will be transferred to our city jail as soon as he is released (…) Then we will take his fingerprints and (we will make) a police file” . On May 8, police identified the man as George Álvarez, confirmed that he has a criminal record and said that he was charged with murder.
#BREAKING Brownsville Police identify 34-year-old George Alvarez from Brownsville as the man who hit and killed 8 people waiting at a Bus stop yesterday—10 others were hit and injured.
Police say Alvarez ran a red light, lost control and flipped on its side.
Alvarez has an… pic.twitter.com/1OHZxt4k2J
— Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) May 8, 2023
According to witnesses present at the time of the incident, the man driving the vehicle accelerated as he approached the group of migrants waiting in front of the center.
“The murderer passed by with the car and pointed at us, insulting us,” said Luis Herrera, a 36-year-old Venezuelan with an injured arm. According to Herrera, the driver accelerated before the collision.
According to the director of the center, the driver was driving at a very high speed.
Increase in migrants before the end of Title 42
Brownsville, being a border city with Mexico, is a transit point for migrants. In recent days, around 2,500 migrants have crossed the border into this city, as indicated by Pedro Cárdenas, municipal commissioner.
The shelter is open 24 hours a day and houses people from Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, China and Ukraine, explained director Víctor Maldonado.
The Ozanam shelter has a capacity for 250 people, but many who arrive leave the same day.
“Most of the people who come here don’t want to stay in Brownsville, but we don’t have enough buses for them to buy their ticket out,” Cardenas said. “Some are waiting for relatives,” he added.
After the incident, Maldonado said the center had received threats.
“A couple of people came to the gate and told the security guard that the reason this happened was because of us,” the director said.
Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said in a statement shared Sunday afternoon: “I hope today serves as a wake-up call, and that state officials begin investing in a humanitarian response that could have helped the people who were impacted by this morning’s tragedy.”
The incident took place just days after the lifting of Title 42, a rule from the era of former President Donald Trump that allows border patrol agents to automatically deport migrants without accepting their asylum claims.
The border restriction will end on May 11 and raise fears of a rebound in migrant arrivals at the US border.
With EFE, AFP and AP
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