Eight people waiting at a bus stop in a Texas border city were killed and a dozen more injured early Sunday morning when a vehicle struck them, authorities said.
The victims, believed to be immigrants, were at a stop near a Catholic Charities facility in Brownsville known as the Ozanam Center, a senior law enforcement official said.
Shortly after the crash, around 8:30 a.m., seven deaths were reported. Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez later said another person had been killed.
«Several more are still in critical condition,» Méndez said in a declaration On Facebook.
Initially, the senior law enforcement official said, authorities believed it was an intentional act. The official later said it was not clear if it was intentional and an investigation into why was ongoing.
Brownsville Lt. Martin Sandoval echoed that in an interview, saying police were also investigating whether the driver was drunk or the incident was an accident.
But, Sandoval said, the driver, a Hispanic man, has not cooperated with investigators.
“He has given us several names,” Sandoval said, adding that authorities are awaiting a fingerprint match that they hope will positively identify the driver, who has been charged with reckless driving.
Sandoval said there are likely to be more charges. The FBI is assisting Brownsville police in the investigation, an agency spokesperson said.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland was briefed on the incident, the Justice Department said.
Ambulances took 11 people injured in the crash at 8:30 a.m. to local hospitals, the Brownsville Fire Department he said on his official Facebook page.
One of the injured was airlifted to Valley Baptist Medical Center in nearby Harlingen, the fire department said.
A migrant from Venezuela who had been staying at the Ozanam Center for three days recounted Brownsville’s NBC KVEO affiliate he almost got hit.
“We were waiting there, and the truck sped through the light, and by the grace of God nothing happened to us, but they did hit those around us,” the man, who gave his name as Jesus, told the station.
Brownsville is one of the border cities already seeing a surge in immigrants trying to cross into the United States from Mexico before the Title 42 immigration program ends Thursday.
The Covid ban, imposed in the last year of the Trump administration, has caused migrants to return to Mexico more than 2.5 million times since it went into effect in March 2020.
Mendez, the mayor, said Sunday afternoon that what happened was unclear.
“As we continue to receive information about the tragic incident that occurred today, we have yet to receive evidence that it was an intentional act,” the mayor said.
Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, said the Ozanam Center houses some migrants overnight. She said that she has not received any direct threats regarding the border crisis in recent weeks.
“Truly unfortunate that this tragic thing happened,” Pimentel said. “It is something that with all the attention to migrants should capture the attention of those who are against them.”
Migrants “do not deserve to face this tragic reality,” Pimentel said.