The day after a shooting Saturday in a shopping center, Texas is once again in mourning. Seven people were killed and a dozen others injured on Sunday when a vehicle rammed them outside a center welcoming migrants, police said.
The police of the city of Brownsville, on the other hand, said they could not immediately confirm whether it was an accident or a deliberate act. A witness, however, claimed that the driver had “insulted” the people present before accelerating.
The case for the moment treated “as an accident”
Among the victims are migrants, said Martin Sandoval, spokesman for the Brownsville police. “We don’t know if all the people who died were migrants. We are investigating this with the border police,” he explained. “At this time we are treating the case as an accident,” he added. The injured driver was arrested and is being treated.
The suspect ran over several people who were waiting at a bus stop outside a center for homeless people, which is currently accepting migrants due to “the current influx”, the official had earlier told a television station local. The news comes at a time when the authorities are preparing for the lifting, on Thursday, of a health measure allowing the immediate expulsion of migrants, “Title 42”. Its expiration makes the authorities fear a spike in illegal entries into the United States.
The driver “tried to flee”
The executive director of the Ozanam center for homeless people, Victor Maldonado, for his part explained that about twenty people, all Venezuelans, were waiting at the bus stop around 08:30 local time when the vehicle arrived. “Suddenly this SUV came at very high speed, hit the pavement and split the group,” he said. The witnesses were “really shocked”. The driver “tried to flee but the residents (of the center) caught up with him and immobilized”.