BROWNSVILLE — A vehicle crashed into a crowd waiting at a bus stop outside a migrant shelter in the border city of Brownsville, Texas, killing at least seven people and injuring at least 10 others, authorities said.
Around 8:30 a.m. May 7, a gray Range Rover crashed into a bus stop where a group of individuals were waiting for a bus; several of them were sitting on a curb, as the unmarked city bus stop lacked a bench, local police said. The bus stop is outside the Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center, where surveillance footage captured the incident.
Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville called the crash indicative of a “corrosive tendency” to devalue vulnerable human life.
The driver, George Alvarez, 34, has been charged with eight counts of manslaughter, police said.
Many of the victims were Venezuelan men who were waiting for a bus back to downtown Brownsville after spending the night at the shelter, local officials said.
Brownsville has seen an increase in Venezuelan migrants in recent weeks. Shelter director Victor Maldonado told the Associated Press that the shelter had not previously received threats, but they have since the incident.
“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 said.
In a statement issued in both English and Spanish, Bishop Flores said, “We mourn and are shocked by the horrific loss of the lives of the seven immigrant men from Venezuela who were killed when a vehicle crashed into them this morning in Brownsville. And we pray for several others who were injured and are in serious condition.”
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