George Alvarez—a 34-year-old Texas resident—was charged with manslaughter Monday for allegedly driving through a group of people waiting at a bus stop outside a migrant shelter in Brownsville, Texas, killing eight and injuring 10 on Sunday.
Emergency personnel respond to a fatal collision in Brownsville, Texas, on Sunday, May 7, 2023.
On top of the eight counts of manslaughter, George Alvarez, a resident of Brownsville who has a criminal record, was also charged ten counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Brownsville Police announced.
Through their investigation, police discovered the driver ran a red light and lost control of his vehicle, after which the vehicle flipped on its side and struck 18 people, Brownsville Police Chief Felix Sauceda said at a press conference Monday.
Sauceda said witnesses of the crash detained the driver after he attempted to flee the scene before police arrived.
Officials initially announced seven people died after the crash, but the death toll later rose to eight—many of the victims are Venezuelan migrants and all of them are male.
Police are still awaiting the suspect’s toxicology report and have not offered a suspected motive for the attack.
At around 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning, a Range Rover drove through a group of 20 to 25 people waiting at a bus stop outside the Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center, a non-profit homeless shelter that houses migrants, CNN reported. Many of the victims in Sunday’s crash were migrants seeking refuge in the shelter, Victor Maldonado, director of the Ozanam Center told CNN Sunday, adding that a group of Venezuelan refugees arrived at the shelter days before the crash. While police have not released any information about the motive, the New York Times reported police are investigating reports the driver had spouted anti immigration remarks, though Sauceda said Monday he could not confirm those reports.
Sunday’s crash was not the only tragedy to strike Texas this weekend. On Saturday eight people died and at least seven others were injured during a mass shooting at a Dallas-area outlet mall.
7 Dead In Brownsville, Texas, After Vehicle Plows Into Pedestrians (Forbes)