On the 7th, in Brownsville, a border town in southern Texas, a sports utility vehicle (SUV) crashed into a bus stop in front of an immigration detention center, killing seven people and injuring at least six others.
According to the Associated Press and local media, the local police said that the accident occurred at the city bus stop in front of the ‘Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ojanam Center’, an immigrant shelter, at 8:30 am on the same day.
There are no signs or benches at the bus stop across the street in front of the shelter, and the victims were found to have been victimized while waiting for the bus to sit along the curb.
Victor Maldenado, director of the non-profit migrant shelter, said that after reviewing footage recorded by on-site surveillance cameras, a Range Rover drove from about 30 meters away, ignoring traffic lights, and hit people sitting at a bus stop.
Maldonado said most of the victims were male Venezuelan nationals.
The shelter is the only overnight shelter in Brownsville and is a temporary shelter for immigrants released from federal detention until they can find a place to live.
“We have accommodated 250 to 380 people a day for the past two months,” Maldonado said. “Many of the people who arrive here (spent the night) leave the same day.”
He explained that the city had declared a state of emergency due to a surge in people crossing the border in recent weeks.