At least eight people died and another ten were injured on Sunday after being struck by a vehicle in the city of Brownsville, Texas, on the US border with Mexico, in front of a migrant reception center.
(Keep reading: At least eight dead after being hit by driver in Brownsville, Texas)
The security forces reported that, for the moment, the incident was treated as an accidentalthough a witness told AFP that the driver had shouted insults at the group before accelerating.
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“We received a call about a gray van that ran a red light and ran over several people. We confirm that there are seven people who have died and others who have gone to the hospital,” Martin Sandoval, a spokesman for the Brownsville police, told AFP. a city in the extreme south of the state of half a million inhabitants.
Local media later reported that One person also died in a hospital, so at the moment the number of deaths is eight.
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The officer told reporters that the people were waiting at a bus stop when they were hit. The vehicle involved in the events is a Land Rover. “We have almost ten (injured) but there may be more. We have detained the driver of the vehicle, he is under arrest, but we have him in the hospital because he also received several injuries,” added Sandoval.
He explained that some of the deceased people were migrants and that they are working with the border patrol to obtain more details about their income.
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A few days from the end of Title 42
The driver of the vehicle will be prosecuted for reckless driving, but could be subject to other charges, according to police. Witnesses said the driver ran a red light before swerving toward the bus stop and overturned, Sandoval said.
“We’re also doing our due diligence, which means we’re actually trying to see if (the driver) is intoxicated or not intoxicated, so we’re doing all those tests as well,” he added.
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“It was suddenly. A lady passed by in a car and told us to move away and move away. It was in a matter of moments. The murderer came in the car pointing at us, insulting us, saying things like ‘motherfucker’ (son of a bitch), no I know, I don’t understand things like that,” Luis Herrera, a 36-year-old Venezuelan who was at the scene and was injured in the arm, told AFP. “He gave the car full volume (speed) and it just passed me by one side,” he said, pointing to his arm.
“We are not saying it is intentional. For now we are treating it as an accident.” although intentionality “is a factor that we have to consider,” Sandoval said.
The incident took place when the United States government is preparing to lift a health measure known as Title 42, which due to the covid-19 pandemic has allowed border patrol agents to deport or reject migrants without even accepting their asylum applications.
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It was in a matter of moments. The murderer came in the car pointing at us, insulting us.
The expiration of this rule this Thursday makes authorities fear an increase in the number of migrants entering the southern United States illegally.
The mass collision took place in front of the Ozanam Center, a shelter for the homeless and migrants that has been very active in recent weeks due to “the current influx” of people crossing the border from Mexico, Sandoval explained.
The victims were in a group of about 25 people waiting at a bus stop, according to Víctor Maldonado, executive director of the reception center.
Maldonado, who described a horrifying scene, with body parts along the street, indicated that the group was made up solely of Venezuelans who had just had breakfast at the facility.
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The witnesses were “really shocked,” Maldonado told AFP.
The Ozanam center is open 24 hours, explained Maldonado. He commented that they house people who have been migrating from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, China, Ukraine and Venezuela.
Texas Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat whose district includes Brownsville, said on Twitter that he was “praying for everyone involved in this horrible incident.”
This event comes a day after a man killed at least eight people in a shopping center, also in Texas, in the most recent mass shooting to rock the country.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP
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