By VALERIE GONZALEZ (Associated Press)
Seven individuals have been killed and as much as six have been injured Sunday after they have been struck by a automobile whereas ready at a metropolis bus cease exterior of a migrant shelter within the border metropolis of Brownsville, Texas, police stated.
Brownsville police investigator Martin Sandoval stated the crash occurred about 8:30 a.m.
Shelter director Victor Maldonado of the Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center stated he reviewed the shelter’s surveillance video on Sunday morning after receiving a name in regards to the crash.
The metropolis bus cease is throughout the road from the shelter and isn’t marked. There was no bench, and folks ready there have been sitting alongside the curb, Maldonado stated. He stated a lot of the victims have been Venezuelan males.
“What we see in the video is that this SUV, a Range Rover, just ran the light that was about a 100 feet away and just went through the people who were sitting there in the bus stop,” Maldonado stated.
He stated the SUV flipped after working up on the curb and continued shifting for about 200 toes (about 60 meters). Some individuals who have been strolling on the sidewalk about 30 toes away from the primary group have been additionally hit, Maldonado stated.
The Ozanam shelter is the one in a single day shelter within the metropolis of Brownsville and manages the discharge of 1000’s of migrants from federal custody. Brownsville has lengthy been an epicenter for migration throughout the U.S.-Mexico border, and it has grow to be a key location for subsequent week’s ending of the pandemic-era border restrictions generally known as Title 42.
Sandoval informed KRGV-TV that authorities are investigating whether or not the crash was intentional or an accident. They are additionally testing the driving force, who was held on the scene by witnesses, for intoxication.
Maldonado stated the middle had not obtained any threats earlier than the crash, however they did afterwards.
“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 stated.
The shelter can maintain 250, however many who arrive depart the identical day. In the final a number of weeks, an uptick in border crossings prompted town to declare an emergency as native, state and federal assets coordinated the enforcement and humanitarian response.
“In the last two months, we’ve been getting 250 to 380 a day,” Maldonado stated.
While the shelter presents migrants transportation in the course of the week, they’re additionally free to make use of town’s public transportation.
“Some of them were on the way to the bus station, because they were on their way to their destination,” the director stated.
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Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Travis Loller contributed to this report from Nashville, Tenn.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
